Secrets of the Crown
by Spirals95
Summary: #36 of the Techorse series. Prince Darkmatter has finally located his brother, and wishes to bring him back. But like himself, his brother is quite upset with Princess Celestia's past actions, and refuses to return. Can Twilight Sparkle and her friends convince the fourth royal to return to his family again?
1. Chapters 1 - 8

Techorse III: Secrets of the Crown

By Spirals95

* * *

Prologue

1,500 years ago

An awe-inspiring castle stood in the middle of the land, a tall, dark structure made to keep intruders out, and the royal family safe and warm within. The building was at its prime, having been used for only one hundred years thus far, and even the ivy vines that sprawled from the forest to the west and east of the castle failed to climb the structure entirely. This was an age where ponies had only recently moved away from their prior homes in the colder, mountainous areas, and had settled into the warmer climate of a new land in order to take advantage of the better supplies of food and easily available water. The dark spires of the building overlooked the large, sprawling medieval city that span a few miles across.

It was there that the remainder of ponykind worked and lived, though not quite with the level of cooperation observed in the distant future. In fact, the city seemed to be divided into three parts, one was dominated by smaller fortresses and structures where the unicorns practiced their arcanery, a second where pegasus ponies had anchored their cloud houses and built barracks to aid in the defense of the land. The third estate were the earth ponies, whose vast sums of farmland kept the other two well fed, albeit quite thanklessly as they had nothing special about their bodies. In this age, stallions and earth ponies in particular were rather looked down upon, most of the highest ranking merchants and officers were female, and marriage between the three types was considered far more than unholy.

King Diurne and his spouse, the primary leader of their new land, Queen Nocturna, watched with a bitter taste in their mouths as their subjects bickered and separated themselves on a daily basis. A brass telescope given to them as a wedding gift served as their way of safely looking down at the town below and watching their people when they could not enter the city themselves. The two had been born to parents of forbidden marriages, each of them had a parent that was a unicorn and a parent that was an earth pony. As a result, the king and queen were born alicorns, out of sheer genetic chance they had come into existence. But for some reason, sheer chance is frequently turned into good in the grand scheme of life.

Diurne and Nocturna were hailed as being great gifts by a powerful warlock who had descended from the line of the most magically inclined unicorns ever. Starswirl the Bearded as he was called, was a known sorcerer who had claimed to have conquered the forces of time and space themselves, and knew healing magic that could mend broken bones in seconds, which would take other unicorn ponies days to do even with the most powerful casts. With him knowing the most difficult magic of healing amongst his other feats, he easily ushered in a new era amongst the early settlers of the land, and they chose the two alicorns as king and queen once their small villages grew into a city.

It was at that point in history, however, when life started to take a turn for the worse. Earth ponies were being treated more and more as filth as Starswirl continued to preach the virtues of knowing powerful magic, pushing the unicorns up higher and higher in class and power. To prevent everyone from starving however, he also explained how "swift warriors" were needed for peace, and the pegasi easily filled that role. As time went by, it appeared that the alicorns that had brought the ponies together to survive in a new land were quickly being replaced by the glorious power of "peace through magic". The final act of evil which permanently seeped the three types of ponies against each other was when a decree was issued by the king and queen that a school would be built to teach magic, amongst complaints that agriculture was slowly beginning to fall behind. Now, unicorns born to other families suffered as they were whisked off to boarding school to learn arcane arts, instead of learning how to be great citizens. Starswirl continued to be a prominent, popular figure, receiving applause whenever he gave a lecture at the ancient college, but drew the jeers of earth ponies. Whenever a large danger arose, such as a monster attack, he would step up and vanquish the beast with little trouble at all. He even contracted the wraiths, a species of spectral being known for fighting monsters on their own terms, to construct a titanic underground prison system called "Tartarus", which ended up being more of a private zoo for Starswirl to observe the monsters he'd fought, than a true prison.

With the earth ponies suffering from terrible neglect, they had begun in recent years to beseech the alicorn royal family to aid them against the other two types of ponies. This broke Queen Nocturna's heart, who could not bear to see any of her subjects suffer, and didn't truly understand why her subjects were even fighting, although she had started to get suspicious. Her husband did his best to lower the taxes on the earth ponies and give them aid in the form of access to the iron mines so they'd have the best farming tools money could buy, but every time he tried, the unicorns and pegasi stomped their hooves and cried that it was unfair for them, who needed that metal and tax exemption "for the army" and "for the schools"! Thus the conditions of the hardest working type of pony got worse and worse, and their was absolutely nothing the Queen or King could do about it without risking anarchy.

The King and Queen overlooked their balcony through their telescope, watching their subjects at work. They observed an earth pony getting robbed by a pair of pegasi, and grew sad as they watched the unicorn who was supposed to be acting as guard that day do nothing about it out of sheer spite. They stepped away from their telescope, with two eyepieces for them to share, and looked at each other with deep sadness. King Diurne was a strong, large, white stallion with a golden mane, bright as the sun that flowed behind him. His light blonde mustache and beard combo adorning his face was trimmed weekly so that it neither grew too long, nor left blonde stubble on his face. For a cutie mark, he bore a set of white rings in a flare over a broad beam of light. With his blue eyes he looked at his wife of more than 100 years. Queen Nocturna was a dark blue mare, with a very rare set of magenta eyes in combination with a splotch on her flank of purple. Her cutie mark was the peaceful night itself, a patch of darkness with a ray of pure starlight shining through.

"What must we have done so wrong, to see such cruelty amongst our subjects?" cried the Queen, her dark blue eyeshadow running as tears streaked down her face.

"I do not know." he answered, "We shall overcome it, though."

The Queen dried her tears and said with passion, "We named this land Equestria so that all ponies, no matter what kind they are, no matter what their special talent may be, could live in harmony."

"And it will be that way!" assured the King, placing a wing around his wife, "As of today, my dear, our discovery has finally allowed us to produce an artifact chamber."

"You mean, they're ready?" she asked, overjoyed, "The values that we have discovered are finally... placed in objects?"

The King nodded, "Upon checking the artifacts, they were glowing and orbiting each other like the celestial bodies. Everything is ready."

They looked at each other with hope for the future bright in their eyes, when a young female voice called out to them from the hallway that lead to their perch.

"Mother, Father? Where art thou?" she called.

"We are outside." answered Diurne, "Come out, little one."

A small mare, having just reached young adulthood, blue in color with a mane featuring the stars of space, crawled from the entrance and approached her parents.

"Oh my littlest Luna!" said her father, smiling and walking to meet her, "Your mother and I have some wonderful news."

Her other siblings, three other young alicorns, entered the balcony from behind the shady area that entered into the castle. Celestia, her hair solid pink at the time, was the oldest, and led her two brothers forward towards their parents, one at each side. Darkmatter was the youngest of them all, having only just earned his cutie mark when he discovered his power over gravity. The other one, younger than Celestia, but older than Luna, was white-coated, and was beginning to grow a beard just like his father, although darker golden in color. The four royal descendents gathered together in front of their parents to talk about their discovery.

"What have you discovered recently?" asked Darkmatter, curious as to the situation.

"Come, we'll show you!" cooed the Queen, leading her children inside.

The two royals led their fillies and colts down to a dark, central area of the castle that was used as an observatory during the night. Tall glass windows revealed stone buttresses and statues outdoors that kept the room's walls up. A purple carpet and stone floor on the inside led to a large, circular area raised up from the rest of the room by several steps. Nocturna walked up to the central platform, leading her husband by his hoof, and the two of them tapped their long horns once on the ground at the edges of the inner circle. To the four young ponies' surprise, the circular area opened up by a magical force, and a large, mobile-like device carved of pure white marble ascended from the ground. On each arm of the mobile sat a large, colored crystal, with a large, star-shaped purple one mounted on the center towards the ceiling. The device rotated all of the crystals and arms around each other, and Celestia, being very curious at her age, noted that there were several holes near the base of the structure where more arms and crystals could be mounted if necessary.

"These, my foals... are The Elements of Harmony." declared Nocturna, "Your father and I have searched for decades a solution to all of the fighting and despair amongst the ponies we serve."

King Diurne picked up the slack, "Within each of these crystals is a magical response to the six virtues, or Elements, that we have discovered represent harmony between ponies. Those are Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, Honesty, and Loyalty."

"Then what is the sixth purple star?" asked Luna, pointing at the crystal with her hoof.

"That would be the Element only available when all five other Elements are in place." explained her mother, "A spark between the five allows for this one to appear. We call it... magic. Pure magic."

"Wow..." beamed the two colts, their eyes wide.

"Should we discover other Elements, we wish to add them to this mobile." said the Queen, "For now, these six will carry Equestria into the light!"

"How will we use them to help the others?" asked Darkmatter, "I want to know!"

"Patience!" declared the King, "For now, all we know is that an immense amount of power resides in these Elements. We must use them wisely, as we have only built containers for a per-existing power, not a solution."

"Does Starswirl The Bearded know about this yet?" questioned the older brother, tilting his head.

The King nearly shouted at him, "No! I mean... perhaps it is best we keep these a secret. We can let your godfather know about the Elements later, after they've been used properly to help the other ponies stop their fighting."

"Oh... very well." said the elder brother, stepping back in surprise at his father's wrath at the question.

Princesses Celestia and Luna looked together at the artifacts swirling around each other with big, open eyes. They wondered what the future might hold for their family now that they had discovered the key to a brighter future for Equestria. Especially curious was the purple star that adorned the centerpiece of the mobile. What would be the purpose of the supposed Element of Magic, and who would get the honor of using it to stop the strife gripping their land?

* * *

Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle closed her book on Equestria's history, noting the very important entry of the story that lead to the creation of the Founder's Play she had participated in over a year ago. To her, that story summarized the struggle that ponies faced to create their home, a tale of strife between the three types of ponies and the evil windigoes that ended up bringing them all together. Replacing the history book back on the shelf of her library home, she wandered back upstairs to her bedroom, where her assistant Spike lay sleeping in his wicker basket bed.

"Wake up Spike!" she called to him softly, "It's almost eleven now."

The dragon slowly lifted his head from underneath his red striped blanket, and crawled out of the basket.

"Good morning Twilight." he said sleepily, scratching his tail as he held it in front of him, "So what are we doing first today?"

She answered with a bright smile, "We're going to go get lunch first. I'm having us take the day off!"

Spike nearly fell over at the news, "Really? Wow, what's the occasion?"

"Today's the day that I finished my first book as a filly." she answered, "Also, I kind of wanted to give us both a break after yesterday when that small earthquake knocked all the books off the shelf."

"Yeah, that was a disaster." grumbled the dragon, flicking his tail and crossing his arms in disgust.

"Anyways..." continued Twilight merrily, "I've set up for everypony to meet at Sugarcube Corner for a few cookies and some hot tea. PAL's going to be there, so I thought you'd like to come along."

"Sure!" answered Spike, enjoying any time spent with his robot buddy, "We'll just grab a board game to play."

"I didn't know PAL liked to play board games!" laughed Twilight as she levitated a pink scarf off of a nearby rack and wrapped it around her neck.

"Yeah he does, but being a robot and all, sometimes I think he lets me win." admitted Spike, "I'd like to beat him at Cooperation Castle 2 without him having to go easy on me!"

"Well maybe today's the day!" cheered on Twilight as she pranced for the door, "Come on, we don't want to be late."

They exited the library and proceeded to stroll down the cobblestone roads of Ponyville, passing many of the residents working their daily jobs. It was rather chilly that morning, and many of them were wearing knit hats and coats to keep warm. Hot drinks and adorable fuzzy boots were selling like hotcakes as the ponies tried to keep the cold from chilling them to the bone. Pegasi were moving clouds in the sky overhead to try and make room for a snowstorm needed a month later.

* * *

Twilight and her assistant reached Sugarcube Corner, the bakery's chimney smoking, filling the air with the scent of snickerdoodles baking. The unicorn mare pushed open the door to the well-decorated building with her front hoof, and walked in, greeted by the chatter of the customers stopping in to purchase baked goods and get out of the cold. There, at a pair of square tables pushed together to make one larger one, sat her friends in a circle. Pinkie Pie walked up to the table, a tray of cookies and empty white teacups balanced precariously on her head. She dropped the tray of goodies on the table, and then skipped happily over to Twilight.

"Hi Twilight, you're here just in time!" she said, giggling, "Techie just got here!"

Twilight gave her a look of slight annoyance, with a hint of smile, and then walked to the table. Fluttershy and Rarity seemed to be engaged in looking at a magazine about how to make small warm coats to aid reptiles through the winter. Applejack seemed to be more interesting in challenging Rainbow Dash to a game of wits, that is, to see if Rainbow Dash could guess what she was drawing on a piece of paper before she was finished. By themselves were Techorse and PAL, sitting over to the side, trying to take interest in the socialization at the table, but remaining separate. Techorse caught eye of Twilight, and turned to face her on his chair, smiling brightly.

"Hey!" he said, getting off the chair and walking up to her.

Twilight gave him a warm hug, and a quick kiss on the forehead, before they sat down together. PAL relinquished his seat to her, and approached Spike.

"Shall we play a game, Spike?" the machine asked, humming.

"Sure..." he answered smugly, "But this time, don't go easy on me!"

"Whatever do you mean by that." mused the machine, putting his hands together innocently, "There's a reason I only play games with an element of chance with others. It's the only way to make it fair!"

"We'll see." said the small dragon, "Don't hold back PAL! This time, I'm going to beat you without you letting me win!"

PAL shook his head, and grabbed a copy of their favorite game from a nearby table where he had left it, and began to set up the pieces on the empty table. Spike immediately picked the silver colored metal cast pieces as opposed to the gold, and the battle began between the two of them, with PAL getting to go first.

Twilight looked back at the two playing their game of strategy, and then looked back at Techorse, "Sorry sweetie. It's just that Spike was telling me this morning that PAL keeps letting him win."

"PAL might be a robot, but he isn't perfect, and he isn't as good as the castle computer is at math." answered Techorse, "PAL's more like us now, and is legitimately losing any game Spike beats him at."

"Besides!" interrupted Rainbow Dash from across the table, "A little competition's good for Spike. It feels great to be the winner!"

"Speakin' of that." teased Applejack, winking at her, "Ya still haven't guessed what I'm drawin."

"I will eventually." grunted the pegasus, shifting in her seat.

"Any new good books out there?" asked Techorse.

Twilight answered honestly, "Well... there was a new book on how to grow tulips, but other than that, no."

Reciprocating his care, she asked, "How about you, have you built anything new lately?"

Techorse sighed, "I haven't had a good idea in weeks. Well, there was this idea to make an ice ray, but I changed my mind about it. Last thing I want is to accidentally turn somepony into a popsicle."

"Did somepony say popsicles!?" gasped Pinkie Pie, popping up from out of nowhere between the two, "I love popsicles!"

"You wouldn't want to be one though, which is why I've decided not to make an ice ray." smirked the inventor.

Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her mouth, "I wonder what it'd be like to be a popsicle? Would I be one of those ones that has three stripes of flavors?"

A few moments passed, and then she gasped loudly, piercing the ears of the two dating ponies, "I just had a really really really great idea Techie!"

Techorse asked, "Really?"

Pinkie Pie smiled brightly, "Yeah! Maybe you could make the ice ray, and then, use it to freeze cookie dough instantly! You know, gingerbread needs to chill for a long, long time! But with that, you could do it right away!"

"Make an ice beam to flash freeze food?" said Techorse, happy with her idea, "Pinkie Pie, that's a great idea. Maybe I will finish the ray, but make it a small beam so that it can only freeze small batches of cookie dough, like you said. Thanks!"

Pinkie Pie then disappeared like a rabbit down a warren, sinking underneath the table, before returning with a thin gray book in her teeth, which she gave to Twilight.

"Here's a book I bought while I was out of town!" she said, "It's about how they get helium for party balloons! Lots of neat stuff you'd like, Twilight. You can just add it to the library collection when you're done, I'm finished with it."

Twilight accepted the book gratefully and thanked Pinkie Pie for her gift, "Thank you so much!"

"No problem at all!" she said, bouncing back and landing outside of the table.

She looked over the two happy expressions of her friends whose problems she had fixed, and said out loud, "My work here is done!"

A buzzer came from within the kitchen area of the building, and Pinkie Pie turned her head to the noise.

"Oops! Guess not." she giggled, "I gotta go get those brownies out of the oven, be right back!"

She bounded out of the room to go save the confections from being burnt, leaving her friends to talk.

"Pinkie Pie's just trying to make us happy." said Twilight, "No depressed ponies around her."

"We're lucky to have such good friends." he answered, nodding.

Rarity paused from her magazine, and poured herself a hot cup of tea from the thermos on the table, then, using her magic, took a dainty sip from the cup.

She then addressed the others at the table, "It's good to see everypony here, out of the cold. I nearly froze trying to get to Sugarcube Corner, it was simply horrible!"

"I know." agreed Fluttershy glumly, "It's been very cold. My animals have had to all curl up by the fireplace recently. Poor things."

"Yeah, I have noticed things have gotten much colder." said Twilight with questions in her mind, "I wonder why that is? Did the weather ponies get orders to make this winter colder? By tonight it'll be nearly twenty degrees below freezing I hear!"

Rainbow Dash stopped trying to guess what Applejack was drawing, and said, "Actually, now that you bring it up, no. We haven't been told to make it any colder or warmer. It was suppose to be a normal, cold winter. With plenty of snow of course, for a snowball fight!"

"That I'd win." said Applejack, "Like I'm winning this game."

"You are not!" said Rainbow Dash, determined to win, "Is it a kind of boat?"

"Not even close." said Applejack, giving Rainbow Dash a teasing look.

Rainbow Dash groaned and buried her head in the table, "I give up. What is it?"

Applejack made the last few strokes on the paper after putting the pencil back in her teeth, and then dropped the writing utensil on the table. She the pointed to the drawing and explained what it was to the defeated Rainbow Dash.

"It's a kettle." she answered, "Like what you make caramel apples in!"

"Oh." said Rainbow Dash, looking at the picture, surprised she hadn't seen it.

"Anyways, the cold weather has been a bit strange." continued Techorse, "I've actually had to use a little bit of antifreeze in my battle saddle's coolant system to keep it from freeze-locking the system."

A robotic arm emerged from the device on his back, and picked up a cup from nearby, where he then helped himself to a cup of tea.

"We really ought to try and figure out why the weather has gotten so dreadfully cold!" urged Rarity dramatically, "If we do not, things will go horribly wrong for sure!"

"Like what?" asked Applejack, curious.

"Well for one thing, your apple trees may suffer a snap freeze! I've seen it happen to many a poor houseplant left in an open windowsill!" gasped Rarity, before fainting over.

"Oh my." said Fluttershy, getting off of her chair to help Rarity up.

"Well, there are things we can do to protect the apple crop from heavy frost." assured Applejack, "But I agree. If it gets too much colder, and the pegasus ponies had nothin' to do with it, we may need to talk to Princess Celestia about this. If anypony would know why the cold's gotten worse, it'd be her."

"That's probably a good idea!" said Twilight, eager to visit Canterlot, "We could probably go today if we don't have too much to do."

"I'm good." answered Rainbow Dash, "All ready took care of my work this morning."

All of the other ponies at the table seemed to not have any additional chores to do, and agreed to go with Twilight to Canterlot to discuss the strange weather with the Princess of the Sun. Pinkie Pie emerged with her tray of brownies from the back room, and set them down behind the counter of the store.

"Pinkie Pie, can you get off of work to help us?" asked Twilight hopefully.

Pinkie Pie knew the answer was probably no, seeing as how busy the bakery tended to be during very cold days.

However, to her surprise, Mrs. Cake overrode her husband's normal operations of the store, and said to Pinkie Pie,

"This morning we woke up with my hair as solid as a cookie sheet. Help your friends Pinkie Pie, please!"

"Looks like I'm going!" she giggled, jumping over to her friends, "Let's go!"

"All right, now all we need are the two fearless generals over there." muttered Twilight, looking over at Spike and PAL, who were arguing over the result of a dice roll.

"PAL, are you and Spike arguing over a game again?" asked Techorse.

PAL crossed his large metal arms, "Spike decided to be inconsistent. He rolled a die off of the table, and counted the result because it was a six. The game's instructions clearly state you must re-roll dice if it falls off."

Spike, his hand in his cheek, answered with a groan, "PAL just likes to follow the rules _exactly_ instead of getting on with the game."

"Maybe that's not a bad thing." considered Twilight, urging Spike to try and think the same way, "You two can have another 'glorious battle' later. Right now, we need to go to Canterlot and find out why the weather is so much colder than it was last winter."

"Oh, so we can come along?" asked Spike.

"Of course!" answered Twilight, "I'm going to teleport us all there, since Techorse didn't bring his teleportation device with him."

"Perhaps I can lighten the effort by flying over myself." suggested PAL, "I have a full charge for my rocket shoes. It will likely take us an hour to get there, but I don't mind."

"I'm going with PAL!" said Spike quickly, eager to go with his friend, but also wanting to avoid the headache he got from being teleported by Twilight.

"All right, stay safe." she said, "Let's head outside, everypony. We'll be there in no time."

The friends all headed outside, noticing that they could easily see their breath against the cold air. Spike climbed up onto PAL's right shoulder at his command, and the two lifted off into the air, a pair of blue flames under PAL's footpads as they lifted into the sky. Twilight Sparkle then ducked, and charged up the teleportation spell, a purple glow around her horn started, with pink sparks scattering about. In a flash of purple light, the friends had vanished, teleporting to Canterlot in a burst of energy. The nine friends had it set in their hearts to figure out why Ponyville was freezing, and wanted to do anything they could to bring back the winter they were accustomed to.

* * *

Chapter 2

Princess Celestia sat in her throne room, alongside her sister, who was enjoying the warmth of the nearby vents that connected to the castle's main furnace. The Princess of the Night stood directly in front of the warm air current coming out of the castle walls through narrow grates, absorbing the heat into her dark blue-purple coat. Jools and Jops stood at the sides of Princess Celestia, occasionally taking a quick glance at what she was writing on a scroll. It had something to do with commissioning a new cargo ship such that Equestria could trade further with surrounding nations, but the details were sketchy, as they could only slip a peek past the watchful Princess. Captain Arbiter was away, out attending to an issue concerning a slight crumbling of a brick on the outside of the castle, likely due to the cold. Princess Celestia finished the final strokes of her letter using her oversized quill, and then replaced the feather in its inkwell, before folding up the paper, and placing it in an envelope using light magic. She then sealed the letter shut with a small blue piece of wax, indicating the purpose of the letter, and set it down on a nearby wooden stool for later pickup by a mailmare.

Next to the spot where the letter was placed was a steaming hot cup of tea, creamy from the milk Princess Celestia had added to it. The Princess picked up her cup carefully, and moved it to her mouth to take a sip of the drink. As she went to take a sip, she noticed a small pinpoint flash of golden light in the middle of her throne room. Knowing what to expect from the mysterious dot, but not expecting it to appear at such an instance, she placed the cup quickly on its saucer and braced for the inevitable.

The dot of golden light opened up into a wormhole of golden energy for a split moment, and Prince Darkmatter jumped out of the hole through space, coming firmly on his four legs, and flapping his wings once to ease his landing. Jools and Jops jumped forward at the sudden surprise of the alicorn traveling through a wormhole, but slowly stepped back to their Princess's sides once the Prince assured them,

"Jools, Jops, easy. It's only me."

Princess Luna recognized her brother's voice, and turned around, walking up to him,

"Brother!" she said happily, giving him a rather informal hug, "It is good to see you again! What brings you back to Canterlot?"

"...And in such a strange manner." added Princess Celestia, rising from her throne, "We all know teleportation spells, Darkmatter. Perhaps you could try it sometime?"

"Ah but Celestia, wormholes are so much fun! You're missing out just flashing around, and my methods have a longer range as well." answered the prince, preferring his use of portals to travel.

Princess Luna released her brother, his brass mane returning to its normal flow.

She asked him, "Is it about our other family? Is he still out there?"

"Ah yes, of course." answered Darkmatter, chuckling, "Indeed, I've found him."

Princess Celestia smiled and said, "That's wonderful! Perhaps now our family can be complete again. Would you have interest in running the courts once more?"

"Unfortunately, now that we're responsible for our own cities, I doubt we'd ever return to being high judges." answered Darkmatter, "Still, seeing as I provide a home for special ponies in The Domain, and he provides one for a different group living out in the cold... perhaps we provide justice to Equestria through that instead."

"I agree." concurred Celestia, nodding, "Now, shall we go visit him?"

A moment of silence overtook the alicorns, and then, Darkmatter meekly admitted, "Well... I said I found him. He seems to have quite a lot of security. Of course, I'm not going to stick a squad of guards in a gravity trap just so I can see brother again."

"It's just as I feared." said Princess Celestia sadly, her ears folding back, "He still hasn't forgiven me, and is now even turning away you."

"But I came to see the truth about Luna and you." assured Darkmatter, extending a warm hoof to his sibling, "Perhaps we can convince him the same. He might refuse to see us, but I was told by some locals that he'd accept ambassadors on his behalf, maybe if we..."

There was a knock on the throne room door, and Princess Celestia politely called out for the visitors to enter. Twilight Sparkle entered the room, flanked by her friends in a V formation, with PAL and Spike at the back, towering over the ponies thanks to PAL's six foot tall stature.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle!" said Darkmatter, waving a wing, "Hello!"

"Prince Darkmatter?" asked Twilight, a little confused, "What are you doing here?"

Princess Celestia cut in front of her sibling and explained, "Darkmatter has discovered the whereabouts of our brother, Twilight Sparkle. We were discussing sending representatives in to talk to him about how... things are different now."

"Oh, you're trying to tell him you've been forgiven for sending away Princess Luna?" asked Pinkie Pie without much thought behind the sentence.

Princess Celestia gained a sad expression on her face, and looked at the floor. Twilight nudged Pinkie Pie with her left hoof, and the earth pony gave a slight gasp at the sudden jab.

"Ow, hey! I'm sorry!" she said, "Too soon?"

"Oh, please cheer up sister." begged Princess Luna, consoling her older sibling, "I was possessed by a monster of my own making. Please try to forgive yourself, there was no way to rid us of the demon and keep me as well."

"I try to believe that." answered Celestia, "But I still have one brother out there who believes I'm a monster."

"I'm sure once we've talked to him, he'll be more than happy to forgive you." assured Rarity, stepping forward, "I volunteer to speak on your behalf."

"We were going to get professional diplomats for this, most likely..." droned Darkmatter, not seeing the value of Twilight and company for the situation.

"Darkmatter, we should give my student and her friends a chance." said Celestia, "Diplomacy is great for disputes, but this issue cuts deep emotionally for Sundial. Perhaps a more personal touch from the current Element holders will help."

"Sundial? That's your brother?" asked Rainbow Dash, "That's an odd name for an alicorn, no offense. It's just not as cool as what you three have, is all."

Princess Luna answered, "His real name is Temporios. A meaningful name, as his magic revolves around time, but quite the mouthful to say. So we always called him Sundial, as that is his cutie mark."

"Tem-pour-e-ose." said Pinkie Pie, the words rolling over her tongue.

She then paused and said abruptly, "Yeah, I can see why you called him Sundial!"

"Princess Celestia, we'd love to go out and help your brother." interrupted Applejack, "But we've been havin' a bit of trouble with the weather lately. Seems awful cold recently. The pegasus ponies tell us it isn't supposed to be this cold, but there's nothin' they can do about it."

"It _has_ been getting colder." answered Princess Celestia, "The same has been true for the rest of Equestria as well."

"Perhaps Sundial has something to do with it." answered Darkmatter, "He is currently living in a cold, northeastern region roughly three hundred miles from the Crystal Empire's new fortress, Steamcastle. Due to the harsh weather, it's almost impossible to access the area without going through heavy snow. I was able to find it by scanning from above using a set of portals that allow me to view other areas. Eventually as I reached the north, I saw the city from above."

"Can it be reached by land at all?" asked Fluttershy, intimidated.

"There used to be a set of roads leading to Equestria, but the ice and snow has cut it off." answered the Prince, "Of course, if you had a scout and guide, somepony quite talented at spying at the terrain ahead and pointing out a path, you could make it."

"Oh, you mean like Limpwing?" asked Techorse.

"Yes, exactly! The lieutenant would be perfect for this mission." laughed Darkmatter, "In fact, let me fetch her..."

Prince Darkmatter's horn glowed, and he opened a portal across space in the middle of the throne room. He then stuck his head inside the glowing circle of light, and then, after a few seconds, kicking and yelling was heard as he removed Limpwing, both surprised and angry at the Prince's action. Darkmatter carried her by her flight goggles using his magic, his horn glowing a light golden hue as Limpwing was carried from wherever she had been into the throne room. He dropped her gently on the floor, where she immediately stood up and protested angrily.

"Prince Darkmatter, did you have to just rip me out of my house like that?!" she shouted, enraged about being dragged through space and time, "I thought I was under attack!"

"I'm sorry lieutenant." he answered, "I needed you right away, and I figured teleporting into your room would have been equally startling."

Limpwing groaned, and adjusted her flight goggles on her head, before taking a deep breath and asking, "All right, well, you dragged me through a portal and scared the living hay out of me. So what are my orders? I hope this is important."

"It is. I need you to guide Twilight Sparkle and her friends to a city I just discovered to the east of the frozen north lands. I'll give you a map showing the location of the city, all I need you to do is navigate around the snowstorms and icy paths to make the journey safe for them." explained the Prince, "Can you do that for me?"

Limpwing turned her head and looked at Twilight Sparkle, who smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah." she answered, "I could do that. What's in the city?"

"My brother." he answered, "You're taking them to see him, in hopes of convincing him to come back to us."

"Your brother?" beamed Twilight Sparkle, "As in Cadance's father?"

"That's correct." Princess Celestia confirmed, "I didn't talk to him personally as I believe he's not exactly interested in seeing his family. Bear in mind that he missed out on his own daughter's wedding."

"Can't imagine why." Limpwing said sarcastically, before returning to Twilight and her friends, "So, are you guys ready to go? We'll need to bundle up for the trip since it's going to be icy."

Twilight shook her head, "We came here to talk about how cold it was getting in Equestria, so we're not prepared for a trip right now."

"Don't worry about that." spoke up Princess Luna, "I will see to it that the local tailors give you coats. Please collect supplies so that you may leave immediately."

"Oh, a free warm coat!" cooed Rarity, who then turned to Fluttershy, "Isn't this exciting?"

Fluttershy nodded, "A warm coat would be really nice..."

"All right, well, let's not waste time and get set up!" said Limpwing, posing with a hoof curled as if ready for action, "I'll get you guys to the city, and then we'll see about bringing Prince Darkmatter's brother back."

"What about us?" asked Spike from PAL's shoulder, "Can we come too?"

"Of course you may." answered Princess Celestia, acting first to make sure Twilight couldn't say no, "You will need the ability to send letters to me in case of an emergency. Unfortunately, the communications artifact Techorse gave me a year ago has stopped working."

"You mean the hologram communicator? Well, if you wanted..." offered Techorse, "I could replace that with a radio so you could contact us at any time."

"A radio? That small?" asked Princess Celestia, confused. Only large, boxy radios were in existence in Equestria at the time, normally used to listen to news stations in large cities, or for communications on board ships.

"Of course." he answered, the back of his saddle opening up, "Twilight and I sometimes used long range radios like this to talk for _hours_ to each other when one of us is away from Ponyville."

Techorse noticed Twilight blushing, and the other ponies in the room looking at him.

"You know..." he stammered, a bit embarrassed, "Just to test the things. Everything has to be tested!"

"Exactly!" giggled Pinkie Pie.

"I don't believe a radio will be necessary." stated Princess Celestia, "My brother has made it clear that he will allow diplomats, and I'd rather hear any news through a letter. With Spike, our response time will still be fast enough."

"You're probably right about that." answered Techorse, closing his saddle again. Perhaps he'd get a chance to allow someone besides Twilight to use the long-range radios.

"If that's everything, then let's gear up and head out! I can't wait to meet your brother. What's he like?" asked Twilight of Princess Celestia.

"I do not know how much, as he may have changed over all of these years. Know that he's really a good stallion on the inside." answered the Princess honestly, "And please be careful. I cannot allow you to bring the Elements of Harmony with you, as I don't want to scare him."

"Don't worry, we can handle this!" said Rainbow Dash confidently.

"If you're sure, then we have nothing to worry about!" assured Darkmatter of his sisters, "Make us proud!"

The team left the throne room, with the three royalty calling out for good luck and safe travels for the group. Twilight Sparkle wondered who the brother could be, and excitement welled up in her at getting to meet a brand new alicorn. A strange gut feeling formed in her heart however, contrary to the excitement. Twilight knew that the diplomacy mission could not go as swimmingly as Princess Celestia was hoping for. She knew that the Prince surely must harbor hatred for his sibling due to avoiding her at all costs, even missing Cadance's wedding. There was also a chance that the alicorn that had attacked her earlier was a mercenary dispatched by the alicorn prince. Even worse, the cloaked stranger could be a son of his! Cadance would pass out if she learned she had a new brother she'd never know, and she'd pass out again upon hearing that he'd attacked her close friend! All of these "Revenge on Celestia" statements that cloaked stranger had made though, solidified his role in Twilight's mind as a servant to Prince Sundial. Nonetheless, Twilight put the fear of the alicorn out of her mind, and focused on the task at hand.

"_I'm not afraid._" she thought as she walked with her friends down the hallway of the castle, "_If that cloaked lunatic shows up again, we'll be ready. We have to get Prince Sundial back to his family, and show him that things have changed between Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. Equestria depends on us!_"

* * *

Chapter 3

1,500 years ago

The Queen faced away from her chamber windows, her husband out attempting to settle a dispute between the pegasi and the earth ponies. The lonely light of the evening shone through the opening to her bedroom, gracing her blue canopy bed gracefully, and reflecting off the many mirrors that she enjoyed collecting. It seemed that the sorrow of Equestria was growing on a daily basis, leading them closer and closer to permanent division of all the pony types. That was certainly not the future she had hoped for her subjects, and with any luck, the discovery in the west atrium of the castle would bring an end to it. As she thought about how she and her husband would implement the use of the Elements of Harmony, a familiar pattern of knocking happened on her door, three long taps, followed by two short ones.

"Please enter." called Nocturna, turning to watch the sunset.

The door opened slowly, and a fine mist poured across the floor, making way for Starswirl the Bearded as he entered the room, his magical energy carrying a mystic wooden staff with a curled top that tapped on the floor with each of his steps. His fine blue robe flowed behind him, and his hat seemed to bend in a point that tracked his eye movements. Of course, the very thing that defined him, his great facial hair, hung nearly to the floor. At this moment in time, he had tied the end of his beard back with a small piece of rope, indicating that he had been working on a potion and wanted to keep the white as snow behemoth on his face out of his work, as accidentally immolating himself was a pet peeve he shared with others who had beards at the time.

"My Queen." he said, with a cheery hum, his eyes hidden by the brim of his hat, "I can't help but notice that your husband has left you all alone in the castle again. What dire situation hath caused such a sudden departure for the third time this week?"

The Queen turned around and answered her mage, "It appears the pegasi have stolen iron from the earth ponies, scores of tonnes of the stone."

Starswirl gave a slight smacking noise before continuing, "Tsk, tsk, such a pity, there's plenty of metal in the ground for everypony, and they fight over it like schoolfoals at the academy."

Nocturna thought carefully about the number of earth ponies who couldn't even read, and felt as if Starswirl's mind was far too sunk in the way of life unicorns like himself enjoyed. That academy, in her mind, should teach other things besides magic, but that was something her godfather before her didn't want to hear.

"I do believe this dark age of friendlessness is at an end." she said to him, raising her chin up to make sure he would have to put effort into eye contact, "Very soon, ponies shall no longer fight based on their kinds, but instead work together for a happy Equestria."

"I could not agree more with that statement!" chortled Starswirl, erroneously believing she was referring to his recent work, "As such, I have a secret I've been keeping that seems to have gotten out. Since it's not such a secret, perhaps her majesty would like to see for herself what Diurne has told her?"

Queen Notcurna had no idea that Starswirl had an alternate solution to Equestria's problems. However, she couldn't reveal her hand to Starswirl without running the risk of him finding out about the Elements of Harmony. As such, she decided to play along and figure out what the grand mage's idea for Equestria was.

"I would love to see these ideas!" she answered, faking a happy expression and tone.

* * *

Starswirl led his Queen down to the castle basement, a heavily fortified area which, rather than contain a dungeon, contained a vast alchemy lab and housing for Starswirl. Although the old magic user spent most of his time out at the academy teaching magic lessons, or in the woods perfecting arts and hunting for ingredients, this segment of the castle was still his home. The wide, open area contained several cauldrons of various metals and fires of various colors heating them, but it was one particular cauldron in particular that he wished to show his majesty. Next to the boiling silver pot were two ponies, one earth pony, and one unicorn. The unicorn was a male at the peak of his prime, white coat in color, with yellow eyes and a red mane. The earth pony on the other side of the cauldron seemed timid, but was still able to face Nocturna and look at her with her purple eyes. Her yellow coat and light blue mane were tied behind a cloth wrapped behind her head, and simple clothing.

"I've summoned your cup bearer and your clothing wash mare to aid in demonstrating my work." Starswirl said, pointing at the two with his staff, "I discovered earlier these servants fighting horribly about some debacle in town. Your wash mare thinks the unicorns are responsible, and of course, your cup-bearer disagrees."

Queen Nocturna frowned as she watched her two employees give each other disgruntled looks before turning their heads away in disgust.

"This potion... this, masterpiece of magic, can only be created by imbuing the purest water and cane sugar with a spell I have created." explained Starswirl, staring into the light blue glowing liquid in the cauldron before him, "Observe."

He dropped his staff, and picked up two small ladles from near the cauldron. Floating over the ornate scoops to the servants, he encouraged them to have a sip of the liquid. They complied albeit reluctantly, and noticed that the flavor of the potion was mildly sweet from the sugar.

A few moments later after imbibing the magical drink, the ponies' eyes grew wide. Starswirl knew the potion had passed through their stomach walls and had affected their mental processes, and immediately brought up the ponies' quarrel from earlier.

"Do either of you remember the party responsible for the conflict in the town square this morning?" he asked in a calm manner.

The two ponies looked at each other, and the wash mare opened up to her coworker, "That? Well, I suppose it wasn't truly anypony's fault. Perhaps we should just forget about that and dwell on other things?"

"I agree." added the cup-bearer, "We shouldn't let such things get in the way of our lives."

Queen Nocturna's ears sank back, as she could not believe what she was witnessing. Starswirl had invented a potion that, if given to her subjects, would cause them to stop fighting. However, this would come at a price too high for Equestria to pay, the loss of their free will and ability to hold reasonable arguments. Controlling the minds of her subjects would not be acceptable, in the Queen's mind, even if it did solve their problems.

"Do not be alarmed, it's not a true mind control potion. It is a mixture that makes conflict seem less desirable to the mind. Your majesty, I can have this potion added to the town wells! Think of the future, a future where magic ends the conflicts ponies face!" beamed Starswirl, picking up his staff again and smacking the end onto the ground sharply.

The alicorn simply shook her head and answered, "No. This is not right, any amount of changing of the mind is wrong. We should not force our subjects to behave, they should choose that out of happiness and value for peace."

"Well the unicorns value peace, as do all who seek magic and its infinite power!" cheered Starswirl, smiling and nodding his head, "Let's allow the unicorn ponies to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity!"

"...And therefore leave the other two ponies in poverty and violence?" asked Nocturna, annoyed, "Magic is very powerful, indeed, Starswirl, but all ponies are of value and should be treated as such."

"But a rising tide lifts all of the ships!" complained Starswirl, "When the unicorn ponies have created scores of barrels of this potion and used it to solve our worries, surely I will aid them in sharing their success with the others!"

"Just as you've opened up the academy so that the earth ponies may learn to read." grunted Nocturna sarcastically.

Starswirl's face curled into a snarl, and he pushed up his hat slightly, the bells on it jingling as he answered, "I do suppose there's no way this can end without favoring the unicorn ponies. But they are the ones with the magic. The ones with the power we need to save this world. I merely wish to do what we must to save Equestria."

"Unicorns may have magic that affects the physical world, but I know not healthy plants or good weather without the others," she countered, "Even your students say we all have some kind of magic, even if we cannot understand it."

The two servants ran out of potion energy, and shook their heads as they woke up from their mind control. They looked at each other, and started to grunt and give each other vicious looks again.

The Queen noticed this, and then said to her mage, "Starswirl, we would need to produce this potion for eternity. We do not need such forcing, such browbeating to solve our conflicts and food supply issues."

"What dost thou mean?" asked Starswirl, curiously, "Could it be that there was another spell out there I overlooked despite hours in my volumes?"

The Queen closed her eyes, and smiled. Then she opened her eyes again, and revealed her secret to the bearded unicorn.

"There is a magic in existence, a vastly powerful one, more powerful than you could ever imagine."

Eager to hear about how great magic was, Starswirl listened in closely, "Go on, please!"

Nocturna raised a hoof and continued to demonstratively explain, "In this very world, there is a form of magic that all ponies may use, merely by coming together with traits that define close friends. This magic, available to all, will clean the land of conflict and bring us together!"

"Magic, that... any pony can use?" laughed Starswirl, "Surely you jest! Two thirds of the pony population lack horns, how will they use it?"

"You haven't allowed me to explain." she answered, irritated, "Any pony who holds a virtue of this magic dear to his or her heart may aid in the creation of said magic, simply by getting along with others who hold the other virtues. Once all of the Elements of this magic come together in one place, the Harmony inside arises from a spark! It is the most powerful force discovered yet, and it has been underneath our muzzles this entire time!"

Starswirl was confused thoroughly. It seemed that Queen Nocturna was saying that simply by having ponies get along willingly, it would end all their conflict, as if none of the other issues of life mattered. What he failed to grasp was the fact that many of these "issues" were the vast inequalities created by his ideology of personal, selfish magic reigning supreme. The power of magic, and subsequently unicorns, should be the only thing in his mind that ruled Equestria.

"Then please, by all means, demonstrate these... Elements." he said, glaring at her.

Nocturna cleared her throat and admitted, "I... cannot. It will be up to Equestria's citizens to wield the power of the Elements of Harmony. As of now, we have no holders who can carry the Elements individually."

"Then what good is it?" claimed Starswirl, grinning, "No pegasus will ever work with an earth pony, and the earth ponies certainly despise the unicorn ponies. Please, your majesty, allow me to use this mind potion to relax the nation!"

Queen Nocturna flew into a sudden fury, and turned around, bucking the cauldron and sending the contents all over the floor behind the three ponies behind her.

"We cannot take away our subjects' free will! We _WILL_ be implementing the discovery of the Elements, and we _WILL_ let our ponies free themselves from the conflict!" she screamed, using her royal voice.

Starswirl looked at his destroyed work, and felt like teaching the Queen a lesson, but understood in his mind that everything would work out in his favor... if he could tamper with her plans. Now that he knew that another powerful magic existed, far greater than his own, he would need to destroy it, or at least damage it to ensure that unicorn magic was the solution to the conflict problem. Perhaps the mind control potion was a terrible idea, there would be more potions and spells. So long as magic held solely by academia trumped all else, and saved the kingdom, he was happy.

"I can see that you have already come to a decision." he said, smiling, "Needless to say, I will sleep on this idea, and perhaps discuss it further with you later. Forgive me for even thinking that eliminating the illusion of choice was a solution."

He walked past her, and then turned his eyes to the ground, thinking to himself angrily, "_I brought her and her husband up and out of being orphans. I taught them how to use their magic, and how powerful it can make a pony! Now, they want ordinary ponies using magic? They want the lords and the peasants to be... friends? To be EQUALS? What could possibly equal magic!?_"

* * *

Chapter 4

The bitter cold of the frozen northern territories tried to freeze through the warm coats the friends were wearing as they stomped through the thick blanket of snow. They had taken the train as far north as they could possibly get, and had moved east from their in hopes of finding the path to the "lost" city Prince Darkmatter had described to them. Limpwing stopped them occasionally to read the map, carefully plotting out their path through the tundra to help them avoid getting lost. Occasionally, she and Rainbow Dash would fly up into the air to try and get a look at the surroundings from above. During one of these reconnaissance moments, Limpwing spotted a thick, gravel path lightly covered in ice that led past a small range of snow-covered hills. In between the hills was a small evergreen forest that covered the area and sheltered the hills from the harsh snow and frost.

Limpwing pointed to the path from in the air and shouted to the ponies below, "There's a road down there that leads through that forest! We're going that way, with any luck the city will be beyond the hills."

"There's a lot of fog after that forest." said Rainbow Dash to Limpwing, "Are you sure the city is going to be through that stuff?"

"No." she answered honestly, "But if I was going to hide a city in a cold, harsh area, I'd pick a massive fog bank too. It's way too cold to house a monster to scare ponies off, and snow alone reflects sunlight, which would make the city easy to see."

"All right, well, maybe I can clear some of that fog once we get there!" suggested Rainbow Dash.

"We'll need to walk through the forest with the others first, just in case." reminded Limpwing.

The two pegasi landed near their friends, bundled up tight in the warm parka coats Princess Celestia had provided to them, hiding their colorful bodies behind gray cloth. The only exceptions were Spike and PAL, as PAL didn't need to regulate his body temperature being a robot, and Spike was cold-blooded, meaning he could sit out in the cold with the only ill effect being he couldn't talk as fast as he normally could under warmer conditions.

"Let's get underneath those trees and get this snow out of our faces." ordered Limpwing, encouraging her friends to march into the woods.

"Yeah, let's! It feels like my nose is going to fall off!" joked Pinkie Pie.

* * *

They entered the calm evergreen forest and proceeded down the dirt path. There weren't enough trees to block the light out, but they protected the friends from the harsh snowstorms outside, and also offered shelter to white-pelted rabbits, foxes, and other animals who enjoyed living in the extreme cold. Despite this, life seemed to be rather sparse in the forest, possibly due to hibernation of other animals that might have lived in the area.

Eventually the ponies plus one robot and one dragon reached a small area that looked like a campsite. The snow was falling far more gently in this area, and a ring of tall pine trees surrounded them, providing a decent wall against the elements. A fire pit was dug in the middle of the widening path, and a pile of ash, cold yet somewhat recently created, sat in the middle of the ring of stones.

"Funny, it looks like this fire pit has been used recently." said Twilight, taking off the hood of her warm jacket, "But whoever used it left in a hurry. That doesn't look like a properly extinguished fire, not from the camping books I've read."

"Maybe another storm came along." said Rainbow Dash, coming up with a reasonable answer for the abandoned pit, "Let's just forget about it and start our own fire."

"Sounds good, we can warm our hooves and get movin' later." agreed Applejack, spotting a pile of dry firewood nearby, "Looks like there's plenty of logs left for us!"

"I'll help you out, Applejack." added Rainbow Dash.

While the two were busy putting together the wood for the fire after sweeping the ashes away, Rarity and Fluttershy moved some logs from the firewood stock to make a few seats. Techorse put a handful of dried pine needles in the base of the logs to provide some tinder. Once all of the preparations had been made, Spike lit the tinder with a short puff of his fire breath, and the campfire came to life just a few short minutes later. Soon the ponies were drying out their wet coats on a nearby branch, and were discussing the trip ahead.

"The city Prince Darkmatter described should be on the opposite side of the fog bank." said Limpwing, "After that, you guys will be on your own. I've been ordered to go back to Steamcastle and wait for the Prince there."

"Thank you for taking the time to bring us out here." said Fluttershy with gratitude in her voice, "I hope it wasn't too much of a problem."

"Well, I figure getting yanked through space and time meant it was worth taking you there." laughed the azure mare, "Don't worry though, once I get back to Cadance's castle, I'm going to be bringing everypony back to the city after you."

"By then we'll have set everything straight." said Rarity hopefully, "I'm sure Princess Celestia's brother is quite easily persuaded. From Prince Darkmatter's description he seems to be quite the charmer."

"Forgive my negativity." interrupted PAL, "But Prince Darkmatter was quite angry about the incident of Nightmare Moon until we set him straight by raiding his castle. That's not exactly a conventional talking-to."

"English, PAL?" asked Rainbow Dash, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"In other words Miss Dash, I'm afraid that since Prince Darkmatter didn't know Princess Luna was forgiven and brought back, that Prince Sundial is also unlikely to be friendly."

"Aw, you're just worryin' about nothin'." scoffed Applejack, who was staring at the machine.

Twilight Sparkle leaned forward from her seat on the log bench and said, "Maybe PAL's right, Applejack. That alicorn in the hood that attacked us at Discord's house seems to want revenge on Princess Celestia, and based on him targeting me, I think he works for Prince Sundial."

"It could be a unicorn pretending to be an alicorn." added Techorse, looking at her with concern, "Remember the time you told me about? When you all dressed up as the same character to trick Rainbow Dash? What if that alicorn that attacked us is really someone trying to fool us?"

"That could be. But why would he want to keep us from re-uniting the royal family?" asked Twilight, "He only mentioned Princess Celestia, not any of the others."

"Maybe he's nuts!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie loudly, shooting up from her seat.

Spike agreed, "That's for sure. I'm just glad you guys made it out ok from that guy, he sounded dangerous."

While they continued to talk, a large white caterpillar, fuzzy in texture with a blue stripe down its back, emerged from the snow-covered ground behind the log Rarity was sitting on. The insect crawled its way slowly over to the ponies, and then, scaled the log and began to climb up Rarity's left front leg without her noticing. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who were sitting together on the opposite side of the fire, noticed the fuzzy creature climbing up to Rarity's head, and bit their lower lips trying not to laugh. Any second now, they thought, Rarity would notice the furry worm and screech loudly, giving them a good laugh.

Rarity picked up on the silly expressions on the two mare's faces, and asked in a somewhat annoyed tone, "What? What is so funny _now_ you two? We're discussing something serious."

"Rarity." said Techorse, pointing at the caterpillar with a hoof, "There's a huge bug on your head."

Rarity gave a bloodcurdling scream and recoiled in horror, sending the hapless caterpillar careening off of her head. The insect landed in front of her, and propped itself up on its hind legs, lifting its forward section up to look at the terrified unicorn. She stopped her screaming, and growled at Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they fell off their logs laughing.

The unicorn mare crouched down and stared at the large caterpillar, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's only a caterpillar. For a moment there I thought a large tick was going to bite my head!" she said, relaxing.

"It's very cute!" remarked Fluttershy, getting off her seat and approaching the hotdog-sized larvae.

Fluttershy leaned down a wing to the fuzzy bug, and it crawled happily up her yellow feathers, and rested gently on her back in a ring.

"Friendly too! I wish I could keep it." she sighed, smiling and looking at it on her back.

"Hey, I recognize that caterpillar, it's called a winter worm." said Twilight, smiling, "They're caterpillars that burrow underground during cold times. If they find a source of warmth, they tend to latch on so they don't have to live underground as long."

"Our fire must have attracted it!" said Rarity, "I'm sure we could let it warm itself up, but we must leave him behind, Fluttershy. We simply can't have a worm tagging along on our trip."

Fluttershy frowned, "I guess I shouldn't take the caterpillar away from its home. I'll put him back when he's done getting warm."

Limpwing noticed a strange feeling on her rear hoof, and spotted another winter worm crawling up her leg as well. She shook the creature off in disgust, and then her eyes grew wide as she noticed what was happening behind everyone.

"We need to move." she said, "Let's go!"

"Hang on Limpwing, let's put out the campfire first." said Applejack.

"No time!" gasped Limpwing, "Look!"

The friends looked over the log, and saw that an entire army of winter worms had crawled out of the ground. Hundreds of caterpillars had emerged from their burrow, and would likely surround them within moments. Some of them began to reach for the legs of the ponies, others began to form a ring around the campfire. They grabbed the coats hanging up on the nearby branch, and shredded them into pieces with their tiny mandibles.

"If we don't get out of here, the winter worms will surround us for our body heat!" gasped Twilight, "I don't want to end up buried in caterpillars!"

"RUN!" screeched Pinkie Pie, only to get knocked over by a swarm of large winter worms eager for warmth.

"Hey, stop, that tickles!" she pleaded as the worms started to cover her.

Techorse shook his back to remove the bugs climbing on him, but started to panic as the insects began to mount and block his movement.

Fluttershy noticed that all of her friends were about to be buried in caterpillars, and gasped as more of the insects grabbed her own legs.

"This must be why the previous campers must have run away." said PAL, bluntly, as he was being ignored by the caterpillars due to generating less external heat. Spike sat safely on his shoulders, but bit his clawnails at the sight of the ponies getting trapped by the mounting numbers of winter worms.

As the worms began to drag her down, Fluttershy regretted ever thinking they'd be a safe pet to keep at her home.

"Oh, why'd I ever want these caterpillars to come with me?" she moaned, "It's all my fault this is happening."

"No it's not." said Rainbow Dash, trying to fly away but failing due to the unwanted passengers on her wings, "It's these caterpillars, they're dumb!"

"Now don't say that, someday they'll be great butterflies I'm sure." retorted Fluttershy.

A moment passed before she thought about what she had said, "Butterflies! I have an idea."

Fluttershy then stood up, and with all her might, crouched and gave a cold, hard stare at the caterpillars surrounding Techorse. The caterpillars immediately snapped to the attention of Fluttershy, and climbed down the inventor's legs to the ground in front of Fluttershy. The light yellow mare continued using her fierce stare to get the other caterpillars to cease, and soon she had wrangled the larvae into a neat, organized formation. A perfect square, like an army, stood before Fluttershy of six inch long caterpillars, all of their insect eyes and antennas focused on her.

"That's much better." she said, "Now I know you're very, very cold, and it is very icy out here. But dragging ponies down to get warm isn't right. You'll need to find another way to stay warm, and I know just the trick, if you'll listen."

The caterpillars tracked Fluttershy's every move as she walked over to the wood pile, picked up a small log in her teeth, and carried it over to the fire before dropping it in for fuel.

"If you keep the fire going, you'll be warm." she said, explaining her action to the winter worms, "If this pile runs out, there's plenty of sticks out there in the forest."

The winter worms formed a chain, and by working together, ferried a piece of wood from the pile into the fire pit, amazing the friends who watched the insects function as a group. Each insect played a small part in fueling the fire, and once enough wood was in place to keep it going at a steady roar, they circled around the blaze and sat still to soak in the heat.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Techorse happily, "Way to go Fluttershy!"

"Butterflies are kind of special to me." she answered, blushing, "Knowing that they're caterpillars, I was hoping I'd be able to talk to the winter worms and sort things out."

"Well you did more than that." said Applejack, pointing to them, "You taught them how to keep a fire going."

"Guess they're not dumb after all!" added Rainbow Dash.

"Now that we're not going to be buried in worms." urged Limpwing, "We should probably continue on to the city. Hopefully there won't be any more 'happenings' along the way."

"If there are, I'll handle it." said Fluttershy bravely, before slinking back and continuing with, "If... you know, you want me to."

Pinkie Pie threw her hooves around her friend in a warm hug, and said, "Of course!"

She then stopped her hug, and bounded down the forest path, saying, "Come on everypony! We've got a prince to find!"

* * *

Chapter 5

The team continued onward, leaving the winter worms to keep themselves occupied staying warm by the fire. Although they had lost the coats due to the worms shredding them, they were able to push through the fog thanks to PAL being able to see in low visibility conditions with his robotic vision. Soon they found themselves facing the other side of the hills, and looked down at the city below. The multicolored ponies along with their robot and dragon saw a vast township, with red brick buildings for the residency, many of them with chimneys smoking as fires heated their homes. Light cloud cover mixed with bright sunlight in the chilly arctic wind across the land, but despite the conditions, they could see other ponies below working and playing out in the snow and cold.

"What a city!" gasped Rarity, "Those small brick homes are so quaint! And is that a shopping mall I see touching the town square?"

"We can go shopping later, Rarity." said Rainbow Dash, smiling and rolling her eyes, "Right now we need to find Prince Sundial."

"Shouldn't be too hard, I'd say he's in that castle right over there." Applejack stated, pointing at a fortress in the distant with a hoof.

The castle in the background of the city stood at a few stories high. The centerpiece of the building was a large circular keep that stood in the middle of the set of towers making up the rest of the structure. The castle wall was far shorter and thinner than what was usual for castles, but each tower in the structure was topped with an ornate, colored dome, or a brass hemisphere that shone from the distance.

"All right, here's the plan." said Twilight, calling the attention of her friends, "We're going to talk to some of the townsponies on the way to the castle to try and make them more familiar with us before we ask to see the Prince. Hopefully we'll be seen as friendly visitors and get to see him before that cloaked alicorn shows up."

"If he does, I'm sure the castle's guards will help you out with that troublemaker."assured Limpwing, smirking, "Knowing Prince Darkmatter, his brother will have a force of his own."

"Unless of course that guy works for him." said Twilight, sighing.

"Don't worry about it Twilight, we've stopped him before, and we'll do it again if we have to!" comforted Techorse, intentionally making a slight whir from within the machine on his back.

"Let's just get going!" said a rather impatient Pinkie Pie, "I want to see what the townsponies have to do here! I wonder what kinds of parties they have?"

"All right, we'll get going." giggled Twilight.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye Limpwing." said Applejack, throwing her hooves around the pegasus, "Thanks for bringin' us out here."

Limpwing removed herself from the hug, and stepped back, saying, "No problem! I'm going back to The Crystal Empire's forward castle now to see Twilight's brother. We'll all be back later to see how things went."

PAL waved goodbye to her, "Take care Miss Limpwing."

* * *

They parted as the rest of the team headed down the snowy hill to enter the city. They took a path away from the main street of town, and headed towards the residence areas. A large number of glass buildings seemed to be placed in rows around the homes, many of them triangular in shape. As the ponies passed by the small brick homes, they saw the residents peek out at them, and look at them curiously knowing that they hadn't seen them before. Many of them gave them a friendly smile when they walked by, as they didn't seem to have a problem with outsiders. In fact, it was almost as if the residents of town were pleasantly surprised that other ponies had made the journey to see their city.

Pinkie Pie bounced past one of the glass buildings, when one of the panels opened up, and a pale orange colored mare with a white and light green curly mane popped her head out of the opening, staring down at Pinkie Pie.

"Hi!" she said, a broad smile on her face.

Pinkie Pie stopped jumping along and turned around rapidly to greet the other pony, "Hello! My name is Pinkie Pie! Me and my friends are on the way to the castle."

"Oh, you must be messengers then." she said, hanging her hooves out the window, "Welcome to Hourglass City!"

"Thank you!" smiled Pinkie Pie, "By the way, nice glass house!"

"It's a greenhouse, I only work here!" laughed the mare, "We grow all our food in these greenhouses, so we never have to trade with any of her towns."

Twilight Sparkle flicked her tail in confusion, "Who's 'her'?"

"Well you'll need to ask the Prince about that. It's complicated." she answered, "My name is Wintergreen Leaf. I mostly grow teas in my greenhouse, and it's fairly well known in the town. If you have any troubles out there, let me know."

Twilight Sparkle picked up a slight 'Russian' accent in the mare's tone, and started to correlate it with a voice she had heard earlier.

"So we're welcome here then?" asked Rainbow Dash, floating up to the mare by flapping her wings, "I'm just making sure we're not going to get attacked."

"No!" said Wintergreen, putting a hoof to her heart in shock, "We'd never treat guests so cruelly, after all, hardly anypony but official messengers get out here. Many of us have never left the city in our lives."

"That's sad." commented Fluttershy.

"It's not illegal, we've just been told that she doesn't like us." stated the mare, using that curious pronoun again.

"Hmmm..." said Techorse, "By 'She', you don't mean Princess Celestia do you?"

Wintergreen ducked slightly, looking to the left and right.

"I'll take that as a yes?" he asked, smiling sheepishly.

"Quiet!" whispered Wintergreen, now on her guard, "The Prince has told us that saying her name might mean she'll come after us!"

"That's just silly, Princess Celestia wouldn't harm a fly." laughed Applejack, "I don't know what horsefeathers Prince Sundial's been shovin' down yer throat, but..."

"Look, all I know is that The Prince doesn't think his sister would enjoy having us around very much, we are separate from Equestria after all." Wintergreen said, interrupting, "But please, stop talking about it! I don't want to get in trouble."

"Don't worry about it." said Twilight, smiling, "We're going to talk to the Prince about Princess Celestia soon. He'll soon be telling everypony that there's nothing to be afraid about."

Wintergreen took a deep breath to try and calm herself, and then pointed towards the center of town, "If you want to get to the castle and speak to the Prince, you'll need to go through the front gate. I'd better go with you so that they know you're friendly."

"You'd do that for us? Thank you!" said Pinkie Pie.

Wintergreen opened the front door to her greenhouse, and exited, locking the door behind her. The earth pony faced the newcomers, and then noticed Spike and PAL standing beside them.

"I'm not sure they'll appreciate a handsome knight and a pet dragon though." she said.

"I am not a pet dragon!" complained Spike, crossing his arms, "I'm my own guy!"

"Handsome?" asked PAL, grinning, "Knight?"

"Oh... I'm sorry." she said to Spike, "I didn't know. We don't know that much about the outside world, do they let dragons live amongst ponies out there? Sounds dangerous."

"We'll explain on the way." said Rainbow Dash, landing next to the mare, "You've got a lot to learn, especially about what pegasi do with with the weather."

Twilight looked at Applejack, and they both shook their heads at Rainbow Dash's display of ego.

"Handsome..." droned PAL again, smiling as he rubbed his metal chin with his right hand, as if a rugged man.

"Don't let it go to your head, big guy." said Techorse, tapping his machine on the leg with a robot fist from his saddle.

* * *

Wintergreen led them to the center of the city, where the foreign ponies witnessed how different the square was from their own hometown. Ponies in this city had their shops set up more built into their own homes, each one featured a lobby to help shelter them from the cold, as opposed to the open carts being far more popular in Ponyville. Produce and other edibles were sold in delicatessens and grocery stores found every few blocks. In the center of the town was a thin clock tower with four faces, each one featuring solid gold hands showing the time by some force within the sandstone structure. The quartz faces reflected the winter light, and the clock tower featured the most beautiful crystalline chimes during the turning of the hour.

"I love your city!" complimented Rarity, "I simply must buy a souvenir while we're here, perhaps a scarf."

"You'll find plenty of warm clothes and hoofmade crafts!" said Wintergreen, "We'll make sure you get plenty of things on the way back."

"Then let's get started talking to the Prince!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, hopping around excitedly, "I can't wait to meet him!"

Spike and PAL noticed a warm looking cafe, and decided to ask if they could stay behind.

"Since we were informed that we wouldn't be welcome, perhaps Spike and I should stay at this cafe." the robot suggested.

"Sure. We still use the bit out here, so don't be afraid to get something you like!" answered Wintergreen.

"We'll be back soon, PAL." said Techorse, "Sorry we're making you sit this one out."

"It's not a problem at all master." he answered, "I'm sure there's a reason for them not wanting robots or dragons loose in a castle."

"Stay out of trouble you two." urged Twilight.

Spike rolled his eyes, "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

They left the two of them to their own devices in the city square, heading on with Wintergreen to the castle. Spike and PAL headed into the nearby cafe and sat down inside, noticing the strange looks they were getting at their appearances. The shop owner left from behind her counter, and approached the two as they sat down at one of the oaken tables inside the store. It was a small hole-in-the-wall styled place, with various paintings hung up on the walls, covering the vertical planks that formed the wooden home, with a tile floor that barely matched the wood.

"Excuse me." she said, trying not to be rude, "But this is a shop. I can see that you're new and all, but I need space for other customers if..."

PAL immediately dropped a pile of gold bits on the table, and said with a victorious grin, "Perhaps you can bring us some hot tea, hot cocoa, and a few scones? Or is it that you don't serve robots here?"

"No, no!" she answered, looking at the pile of raw cash on the table, "I've just had problems with ponies sitting around not buying anything! Did you say tea and hot chocolate?"

"Please." answered the machine, reclining in his seat.

"I'll be right back with it." the pegasus said after scooping the money into her apron.

"Well that took care of her." muttered Spike as she walked into the kitchen area, "Thanks PAL. It's been a long walk, and I'm starving."

"Sorry I cannot likely find you any gemstones." sighed the machine, "I hope some pastries will do until we can find some for you."

"Hey, I love gems as much as any dragon, but I like other food too." he answered, "We can pick some off of Techorse's mining machines when we get back to Ponyville, right?"

PAL nodded and looked around for something for the two of them to do while they waited for their drinks. He spotted a cabinet with several colored boxes sticking out from the sides, and stood up to go investigate them. Spike waited patiently at the table, and PAL returned quickly with a board game in hand.

"Want to play a few rounds of this while we wait? It's brand new to us, Spike, but I'm sure it'll be fun."

"Sure!" answered the dragon, eager for a competition.

"Let's read the rules then, shall we?" hummed PAL as he lifted the cover off of the box.

* * *

Chapter 6

The ponies reached the castle and stood outside of the front gate, a pair of brass doors several feet tall, sealing off the lower walls of the castle to outsiders. A pair of unicorn ponies, wielding crossbows on their backs, stood above in silver-colored armor, staring down from below on the fence.

Rainbow Dash called up to them, "Hey!"

"No thanks, I just had lunch." replied one of the guards, taking advantage of the pun.

"Oh very funny!" she responded, "We're here to see the Prince. We're messengers from the rest of Equestria."

"We can't just open the gate you know." said one of them.

Wintergreen called up to that guard, "We know, but these ponies are serious about seeing the Prince. They think they can help him solve some issues he's been having."

"I can see you're serious about this, but your visit is rather unexpected." replied the other guard, "But we're not allowed to turn away messengers without asking about things first, so give us a moment."

The two disappear from off of the battlements, and Rainbow Dash waited impatiently as the two stallions went to go ask for permission.

"They're going to turn us away." sighed Fluttershy, "We're not invited you know."

"I don't know, maybe we should just be patient." said Twilight, "They said they would check."

"If they don't, we're just going to have to figure out some other way in." Techorse said, winking.

"We are not breakin' in that castle." grunted Applejack.

"Shhhh!" hissed Pinkie Pie, "They're coming back!"

The guards returned to their place, and the leftmost one said, "We need to speak to Wintergreen first, have her come through the gate. Then once we're done speaking with her, we'll let the rest of you in. It's all a matter of domestic security."

"It's quite all right." Rarity said, with a pleasant tone in her voice, "We'll wait right here, darling."

"All right, open up the gate and allow Wintergreen through."

The brass gates swung open, and the pale orange mare trotted through, leaving the others behind. Once she was a good distance away from the other ponies, the gates slammed shut again, and Wintergreen found herself being whisked away by the two unicorns. She was tucked into an alcove far beyond the gates, and the two guards bullied her.

"Our Prince wishes to take them prisoner, as they are with Princess Celestia." the first unicorn snarled, "You will help us betray them by leading them out to the rear courtyard where we have an ambush waiting."

"But... I can't!" she whimpered, terrified, "You can do what you want, but leave me out of this! Please!"

"It's far too late for that." laughed the second unicorn evilly, "My brother and I have already gotten a bonus for this from the Prince, and we're not letting you ruin a chance at any more benefits. If you cooperate, perhaps we won't arrest you for helping Princess Celestia's messengers out."

Wintergreen burst into tears, knowing that the two evil stallions were going to force her into leading her new found acquaintances into a trap. She didn't want to see them imprisoned at all, but was now being blackmailed into aiding her leader.

"All right." she said, crying, "Just don't hurt them, please!"

"Oh, we won't." said the first guard, "That'll be up to the Prince."

The three returned to open the gate, and Techorse gained a curious expression on his face as he noticed Wintergreen's sudden sadness. He figured that she must have been yelled at for bringing strangers to the castle, however, and that they were going to be allowed in anyway despite the inconvenience. Neither the inventor nor any of his friends had any clue that they were wandering into a trap laid for them by the castle guard.

"Please, follow me!" she said to them.

* * *

They obeyed, following Wintergreen to the courtyard described by the crossbow-wielding stallions. The marble stones lining the ground in the courtyard featured just four trees sprouting from dirt in the corners of the area, a walled-off section meant to let the light in so that the Prince could get some fresh air when need be. When the team was stopped in the courtyard, they looked around with confused expressions.

"Wait a minute." said Twilight, "This isn't usually how you enter a castle."

Suddenly, various mares and stallions armed with swords, spears, and crossbows filled the battlements around the walls. A cannon was even wheeled up to the stone walls, and tilted down at the seven ponies below, as Wintergreen and the two guards had stepped back. They drew their weapons, and pointed them at the friends.

"Eek!" cried Pinkie Pie, her hair frizzing up in fear.

The pony who had pushed the cannon into the area was a very large gray colored mare with a dark blue mane that she struggled to maintain, as it was large amount of mane hair that was not curly enough to bob nor wavy enough to drape behind her. As a result, she kept her mane draped over her shoulder, wishing she could let it free. She was a unicorn, with purple eyes that darted back and forth between her targets below, with a flashy white and silver ball with a blue fiery tail around it as her cutie mark. She wore heavy armor, a solid helmet with a blade on the top that aided in keeping her mane back, a set of metal boots, her plates around her body, and even a small piece for the end of her tail that resembled a war hammer.

"All of you are under arrest!" she boomed.

Techorse's battle saddle opened up, and he raised his robotic arms in surrender. Rarity fainted, and the others simply stood there, frozen in fear.

"Wintergreen..." Twilight said with sadness in her voice as she looked back at her.

She answered, "I'm sorry Twilight, they made me do it..."

"Who are you anyways?" demanded Rainbow Dash of the large mare.

She smiled and answered, "Why I'm Comettail, the captain of the guard of this castle."

"Please don't hurt us Ma'am!" begged Fluttershy.

"The Prince wishes to see all of you." answered the Captain, "You're not going to come to any harm if you simply do what he says. Come with me, and I'll take you to him now."

"Well, at least we're getting to talk to Prince Sundial." sighed Techorse.

"I can hear you, you know!" shouted Comettail angrily, "Shut up until we get there."

A figure in a dark cloak appeared next to her, moving his way up the stairs within the battlements. Twilight Sparkle's mouth hung open as she recognized him as her attacker.

"That's enough, Captain." he said to her.

"It's you!" Twilight said angrily, "You set us up!"

The figure laughed, "Set you up? What are you talking about?"

"I know exactly what you're up to!" she said, continuing, walking around as she lectured. The guards followed her movements with their weapons, but Comettail waved her hoof as an order for them to stand down.

"You've been working for him as a mercenary, or you are his son, or something!" she said, her face turning red, "You've been trying to take me away to get back at Princess Celestia for him!"

"For him?" asked the figure, "For who?"

"For Sundial, Prince Sundial!" raged Twilight Sparkle, stomping her hoof into the ground, "You've been trying to capture me so that Prince Sundial can hold me hostage."

"You think I work for the Prince?" asked the cloaked stranger.

"Yes, I do!" she answered, grating her teeth.

The cloaked figure looked at his captain of the guard, then at several of the other ponies on the battlements, and then, burst into rich laughter.

"Oh! What I've done's too good!" he said, "Look, look friends, it seems Princess Celestia's number one student hasn't figured it out yet! She thinks I actually work for the Prince."

Some of the guards also joined in on the laughter, and even Pinkie Pie got caught up in the moment as she struggled not to burst out laughing at Twilight's expense.

"Fine." shouted Twilight, getting the laughter to begin to quiet down, "So what if you don't really work for the Prince. Are you going to take us to him or not?"

"Take you to him? Miss, that's why this is so funny, you see..."

The alicorn ripped off his dark cloak and discarded it into the courtyard. On the battlement walls stood a white alicorn with a blonde mane and full beard. His cutie mark was that of a large sundial, and his tail and mane waved in a jagged pattern. The jagged hoof hair cut at the base of his legs made him seem taller than he actually was, but his strong wings spread as the cloak tore off. His pointed horn sported a small golden crown, which he rather hated to wear upon being questioned. The last thing about him was his yellow eyes, which no longer had to glow behind the dark cloak.

"The funny thing is, I _am_ Prince Sundial." he said, still laughing, "Surprise!"

Twilight Sparkle stood motionless for a moment, her mind in a bit of conflict.

"But..." she said, stammering, "Why? Why would you do it all yourself?"

The Prince continued to explain, "This is about making that nag Celestia pay for sending my sister to the moon for a thousand years. I just want to be a pain in her side. Sending some faceless goon to ponynap you wouldn't be very much fun or effective."

"Oh great, he's a total nut!" whispered Rainbow Dash to Applejack, who nodded in agreement.

"Now I have all of you! All six of the Elements of Harmony holders, and even the green one!" he said, trying not to squeal, "This is so exciting!"

"What are you going to do to us!?" whimpered Fluttershy, praying she wouldn't come to harm.

"You won't be hurt." he answered, shaking his head, "I hope."

"_You hope?_" screamed Rarity.

"Of course, if Princess Celestia resists my demands, I may have to give her some incentive. I just can't forgive her after what she did to Luna. Take them away, Comettail."

The Captain obeyed her orders, and commanded her troops, half mares and half stallions, to escort her new prisoners into the castle. The guards poked at the friends as they corralled them into a wide hallway that led into the depths of the building.

Twilight and Techorse looked at each other momentarily, frowning as they were led away with their friends into the depths of the castle. They had managed to save themselves from getting hurt or being held in terrible conditions, but now, they would need to bring Darkmatter in and hope he could solve the problem. Both ponies feared that Prince Sundial would not listen to his brother, and they would all end up in the same scenario they had gone through with Darkmatter. The others simply hoped that the princess would sort things out, and they would get back to Ponyville in one piece.

* * *

They were taken to a plain room with a set of cots lined up against the walls, and a small whitewashed wooden door leading to a powder room. It was originally used as a hospital room, and had been hastily converted into an oversized cell, due to the fact that it lacked windows and the door was bolted in four different places from the outside. The door had also clearly been hexed to avoid lock picking spells or brute force, as four engraved shield runes were embedded into the stone frame around the door to the room. Comettail urged them inside, and considered stripping Techorse of his battle saddle, but instead inspected it by opening the rear cargo hatch. Since she was only aware of the robotic arms and knew they were too weak to open the door, the captain resealed the saddle and let the inventor keep it. Then, the seven ponies were pushed into the room, although Rainbow Dash put up a good resistance by spreading her limbs over the doorway and attempting to hold on. The guards nudged her with their horns and the hilts of their weapons until she flung into the doorway, landing on her back.

Prince Sundial appeared at the large door to the room, and said to his prisoners, "You shall remain here for now, until we can use you as bargaining chips for Celestia's surrender."

"Surrender?" gasped Pinkie Pie.

"Of course." he answered, "Should Celestia refuse to turn over Equestria to my brother and I, I shall have to simply keep you here, and perhaps... do things to encourage a quicker agreement."

"Look, everything has changed!" pleaded Twilight, mortified at the thought of being tortured, "Princess Luna is back in Equestria, and she and Princess Celestia get along well! That's what you want to know, isn't it? Didn't you ever bother to even spy on Celestia? If you had, you would have seen the truth ages ago!"

The Prince's eyes grew wide temporarily as he heard that statement, and then he shook his head, "That is a lie!"

"It's not a lie!" protested Techorse, "We want to prove it to you."

The Prince of Time paused and thought about it for a moment.

"How could you possibly prove it to me?" he said, "You have no idea what kinds of pain I've been through."

He then slammed the door to the cell, leaving the ponies alone to worry about their fates.

"How are we going to get out of this one?!" cried Pinkie Pie, "I don't wanna stay here!"

"It has been over a thousand years." said Rarity, "But some things never change. Perhaps if we were allowed to bring in somepony else who knew the truth, we could convince the Prince things have changed."

"Who?" begged Pinkie Pie.

Rarity answered, "Why his brother of course. Prince Darkmatter has already repaired his relationship with his sisters. I'm sure he can do the same, after all, Sundial did just mention him."

"That's a great idea Rarity!" exclaimed Twilight happily, "Now all we have to do is figure out how we're going to get Darkmatter to come here."

There was a slight knocking on the door, and a familiar voice called out from underneath it.

"Are you ok in there?"

"Wintergreen?" called Fluttershy, "Yes, we're fine!"

"Oh thank goodness!" she exclaimed with a breath of relief, "I was worried about all of you. I'm still sorry they've forced us all into this mess, but on the bright side, I was able to sneak back into the castle. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes!" said Twilight, "We need to send out a letter, can you get us some stationary?"

"Yeah, there's a writing desk down the hallway, one second!" the mare replied.

The slot at the bottom of the door normally used for delivering meals opened up a moment later, and a piece of parchment paper and a dipped quill slid under the door. Using her magic, Twilight grabbed the paper and wrote the letter to summon Prince Darkmatter, giving no indication that they were being held as prisoners, using the term 'guests' instead, just in case the guard of the castle was going to read the letter ahead of time. She then slid the rolled-up parchment back under the door along with the quill. Wintergreen collected the letter and placed it in a saddlebag she had stolen from the guards.

"I'll make sure this letter gets out to Equestria!" she said, "I may not have been out there, but I'll figure my way."

"Thank you so much for your help darling!" called Rarity.

"I got you into this, and I'm going to get you out!" she replied with determination.

"Don't go out into Equestria by yourself." instructed Twilight, "Get that letter back to Spike, you know, the dragon who was with us! He can deliver the message."

"Got it! Hang on in there my friends. We'll get Prince Sundial's brother to sort things out." she said before the noise of galloping on stone indicated her departure for the ponies inside the room.

"Do you think Prince Darkmatter can convince his brother that everything is ok?" asked Fluttershy, "I really hope we don't have to stay here forever."

"I'm pretty sure they can work it out." answered Techorse, "Prince Sundial really just seems rather hurt that Princess Luna was banished, like his brother. I can tell that there's a much kinder pony in him, it'll just take the right things to get him out of this anger."

Rainbow Dash jumped onto a nearby cot and said, "Anyways, I'm going to take a nap. We're still going to be here for a while until those two talk it over, so we might as well rest up."

"Probably not a bad idea." sighed Applejack, climbing into her own selected cot.

"Let's rest then." said Twilight, "Hopefully by tomorrow we'll get everything sorted out."

* * *

Chapter 7

1,500 years ago

The King and Queen began to develop strange ailments as their subjects' happiness continued to fade. Although the unicorns were still happy given their elite status in the kingdom, the other two "classes" of ponies were gravely unhappy, some of them choosing to resort to outright theft rather than earn a living in a bleak caste system. King Diurne suffered a strange flu, followed shortly by his wife, and they recovered simply because the castle nurse was an expert in respiratory illnesses, even if the treatment was simply a placebo. The sickness of their parents worried their four foals, even though they were young adults, they had never seen their parents sick before despite each of them being more than 300 years old. In truth, the alicorns were all kept alive by being given the support and happiness of their subjects and friends. They unknowingly absorbed the positive energy and converted it into raw power that granted their cells immortality. Starswirl had also been born with this genetic gift, and received the lions' share of the positive energy generated by his very happy unicorn pony students at his academy. Thus, when life was good and ponies were happy, the alicorns could live forever. Yet at this time, the alicorn King and Queen were finding themselves catching illnesses and suffering the effects of being ancient. This did not deter them from helping their subjects, however, and they swore to find a way to get their kind to deploy the Elements of Harmony.

King Diurne stood on the roof of his castle, looking out over the city in the broad daylight. It seemed that the city was at peace for the moment, as he had managed to convince the pegasi to use an alternate mine to collect their metal rather than take it from the earth ponies. But how long would that peace last?

Starswirl the Bearded had recently searched the castle using his magic detection spells to see if he could find the "Elements of Harmony" that Queen Nocturna had leaked information to him about. Although he had believed he had pinpointed the location of the artifacts, he needed to be certain, and would need to get his godson to spill his information as well.

"Your majesty, I'd like to speak to you." he said, smiling and shaking as if he truly was old.

King Diurne turned around, his golden mane flowing behind him.

"Starswirl, what troubles you?" he said, unhappy.

"I have heard rumors your majesty." continued Starswirl, walking up to him with his staff floating by him, "Rumors of a new magic you have discovered. The Elements of Harmony. What are they?"

Diurne immediately caught on, and knew that he must not allow Starswirl to interfere. If he found out the location of the Elements, he might try to tamper with them in order to put himself in charge of fixing Equestria, thus ruining any chance of a good life for two thirds of the population. A private magic based solution would lead to the unicorn ponies ruling for all time, while the others would merely scrape by. However, Diurne also knew that he was no match for Starswirl's magical might, and should Starswirl choose to overthrow him, it would be over quickly. Starswirl had created him, and he could just as easily destroy him despite nearly 300 years having past since they met.

"The Elements of Harmony are how Equestria will be reborn, like a phoenix." he answered, "That is all you need to know."

"Your Queen has already told me that." pushed Starswirl, attempting to get more, "I wish to know where these artifacts or magical powers are. I want to be a part of this glorious process!"

"You know nothing about glorious processes!" snapped Diurne, "Just this week I found your notes for a lecture at your school. You told unicorn ponies that their peers without horns are worthless!"

Starswirl cried out in a rage, "I did not do such a thing! My notes stated that it was up to the unicorn ponies to aid their brethren without magic! Magic is meant to keep peace and find redemption, not destroy!"

Diurne argued with his mage, "Is that so? I know something that happened last week that you've done clearly showing the opposite. I heard about what you did to those three sirens who were found feeding off of the conflict in our city."

"They were a threat to us." claimed Starswirl, "They devour the negative energy of conflict and use it to generate more."

"Perhaps they could have siphoned it off and used it elsewhere, maybe to keep the monsters in the forests busy so we never have to worry about monsters gobbling up our ponies again?" yelled the King, enraged, "You destroyed those three because it was a demonstration of magical might, to awe ponies into following you!"

"I did not destroy them. I tested a new dimensional spell on them. They're alive, somewhere in the universe." he said, trying to defend himself, although clearly losing.

He then came up with a white lie, "I did not want to awe ponies with magic. I was afraid the sirens would begin to eat them should the conflict not feed them enough. Perhaps I will modify my lectures a bit..."

The King's ears drooped, and he sighed heavily, "I am sorry for snapping. I fear much for Equestria, and I cannot have the unicorn ponies continuing to push for more power in times like these."

"I understand your ills." soothed Starswirl, "Now then, please tell me about these Elements. You and Nocturna have great faith in them, and so do I! Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps I need to aid my... family."

King Diurne took the comment as sincere and revealed the location on the artifacts,"The Elements of Harmony are located in the atrium, underneath the floor in the centre of the room. You will need to use your staff to open the door."

"Thank you. Please tell Queen Nocturna that I was wrong, and I will aid you in your quest to use these Elements." he said, smiling, "I hear they truly are a great magic."

"It goes beyond that." said the King, "The sixth in the set, is pure magic itself."

Now there was something interesting to Starswirl! The sixth element was pure magic, and to him, that meant it was the most important one. He turned around after bidding the King goodbye, and walked back for his room, happy thoughts circling in his mind.

"Perhaps I won't sabotage the Elements after all!" he said quietly to himself, "Perhaps the Element of Magic will simply need a little push ahead of the others! Then all that will need to be done is declare Magic to be the greatest, and my school will remain renowned for eternity!"

That was truly Starswirl's motivation for all of his ideas. He did not truly wish for the unicorns to be "the elite" per say, rather, he wanted magic to remain the most powerful force in existence due to his own skill in the art, and also wished for his school and his teachings to remain the most important in Equestria. It was why he had put the alicorns on the throne in the first place! By telling other ponies that the alicorns were gifts from the supernatural, and also happening to be the best magic user, he had managed to construct a world in which he would be remembered for all time. In addition, magic would remain the only force that mattered in the world, and that thought pleased him greatly.

He passed the young Princess Celestia and Luna in the hallway, and opened up a conversation with them.

"Good afternoon, young ones!" he said, "I was on my way back to my quarters just now. Your parents have discussed the Elements of Harmony with me, and I look forward to aiding them in their use!"

"Really?" asked Luna, "Our parents let us know that we were to not inform you about the Elements."

Starswirl knew exactly why he hadn't been informed until now, but shrugged off the fact that his alicorn "family" was starting to mistrust him.

He regained his smile after scowling from Luna's statement, and answered, "I gather the timing was right then!"

Celestia smiled, "We're glad you've decided to help us godfather. We really are!"

"Thank you, little Celestia!" he answered, "Now, off I go, I must brush up on my spell books for now!"

He left them in the hallway, and thought to himself, "_Those foals will someday appreciate their gift of magic more than could be imagined! I hope they make excellent rulers one day, and take students of their own just as I have!_"

The King and Queen had gathered their young ones, along with a handful of servants, including the cup-bearer and the wash mare from before. They were staring at the Elements of Harmony on their stand, rotating about as the artifacts waited patiently for action.

"Now that we know about the Elements and have built artifacts to house them, we must discover how they work!" stated Nocturna.

"But what could it be?" asked Darkmatter, his brother standing next to him.

His brother suggested, "Perhaps only mother and father can use them?"

"I don't know what to make of this." puzzled the cup-bearer.

The wash mare turned to him and said, "You're a unicorn. I'm sure you'll be able to do something with it. You have the magic to do it."

The cup-bearer gave her a surprised look, "Are you saying I'm good enough to wield this device?"

"Of course!" answered the wash mare, apparently having forgiven her argument, "It is what you are good at!"

"But you are just as good at things..." he answered, trying not to leave her out, "I have never been able to grow a sprout in my life, but plants just spring into life at your home!"

The King and Queen noticed that the Elements gained a soft glow at the center of their crystals. Something was happening, something that hadn't happened before. They had tried many things to get their artifacts to use the Elements and their power, but it seemed that this mere conversation was the beginning.

"Look!" said Diurne, pointing at the stones.

The two servants stopped their conversation and looked.

"Test Keeper, please!" begged the Queen, "Start a spark as a unicorn, we believe it is your words that started the Elements' glow!"

Test Keeper, a mere cup-bearer, stepped forward, and touched his horn to the center Element. Despite his every thought and effort, nothing seemed to make the Elements glow any further.

"Nothing is happening." he said, backing off, "I am not as skilled as Fine Dust thinks."

Fine Dust the wash mare patted him on the back, "It's all right. It was brave of you for tryin'."

"You believe so?" he asked.

"Oh I know so." she answered, "We can talk more about this over some tea later though if you'd like, perhaps... if you wanted to be friends."

"I'd be delighted to be your friend!" answered the unicorn.

The absolute anomaly of a unicorn and an earth pony being friends at that time caused the Elements to suddenly grow brightly, and rotate quickly around on their mobile.

"I believe you've done it!" cheered the Queen, hopping up and down, "We know how the Elements function!"

"What is it?" demanded Celestia, "How do they work mother?"

Queen Nocturna explained, "My daughter, the Elements of Harmony respond to _friendship_! When our cup-bearer and wash mare became friends just now, they came to life, especially the central one, Magic! It must be that friendship is the most powerful magic in existence."

"Friendship is the most powerful magic in the world?" asked Darkmatter, "This is how we'll stop all the fighting?"

"Yes, by encouraging and teaching friendship to our subjects, the Elements will provide the defense and positive environment Equestria needs to once more be a whole world!" said the King, "We must start a new school teaching this philosophy at once! By emphasizing the importance of having friends, earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorn ponies will finally find happiness and cease their fighting, just as our two servants have!"

"Then open a new school we shall! We must have students who know how to make friends!" declared Nocturna.

A curious Starswirl watched from a window, jealousy burning in his heart, "A new school? To replace mine? Never!"

He observed the structure of the first five Elements creating the might of the sixth, and understood what he had to do.

Starswirl said out loud, "If friendship is magic, perhaps I will simply make it so that whoever proves best at friendship will gain the power of magic exponentially, to the point of affecting their very self! Of course, if any pony were to be imbued with that much magical power... they'd become..."

He then lost his train of thought, and changed the topic with himself, "Well no sense crafting theories. I must unbalance these Elements to ensure that my own school does not fade out in favor. Tomorrow night I'll sabotage these artifacts, and they won't even know it."

Darkmatter's brother Temporios had seen the mage outside the window, but when he took a second look, he had vanished. He and his siblings walked together to their dining room to celebrate on their own independent of their parents.

Temporios tried to tell his siblings about what he had saw, "I think I may have seen our godfather outside."

Celestia said back to him, "Oh Sundial, Starswirl the Bearded is always up and about. He's a bit of a funny stallion."

Prince Temporios was called the nickname "Sundial" both because of the complexity of his true name, and because his cutie mark was indeed a sundial with a quarter circle of light descending upon it. He had picked up on Starswirl's experimental time magic early on, and had mastered the ability to control the flow slowly, able to change the speed of events, but very little control over the past or future. As he grew older, Sundial's strength in pausing time in a small area had grown stronger. Thus, he became the Prince of Time, and joined the ranks of his siblings in enjoying power over the forces of existence.

"You're right Celestia." he said, agreeing with his sister, "I guess there's nothing to worry about."

"Indeed there isn't!" she answered, "Especially because our favorite treat is being served tonight, chocolate cake!"

"You mean your favorite treat!" teased Princess Luna, poking her sibling in the gut, "You've gotten quite a soft middle from cake over the years!"

Princess Celestia did not have that much fat, and knew it was a joke, and gave Luna a subtle smile. They had always gotten along as sisters, and had been each others' company when their brothers were not around to talk to them. Nothing could separate the Princesses of Night and Day, or so they believed. As the four alicorn young adults entered the celebration area, a disgruntled wizard retreated to his laboratory to begin his plans for ensuring a very different future than what the alicorns upstairs expected.

* * *

Chapter 8

Spike moved his last piece on the colorful game board into place, finally securing a victory against PAL. The young dragon gave a cheerful shout at his victory, disturbing the other patrons in the cafe, who stared at him. Sitting back down with embarrassment, Spike noticed PAL shaking his metallic head at him in disbelief.

"Well, it was a good game." said Spike sheepishly, "Want to play again?"

"We've already played seven games." reminded the robot, "Perhaps we should try something else now."

"Seven times?" said Spike with shock, "We've been here that long?"

"Yeah..." added the owner of the shop, "You've been here for hours."

Wintergreen appeared at the shop door, and stormed in, carrying the letter given to her in her mouth. She dropped the scroll on the table in front of the rather surprised robot and dragon, and started to pant as she gave a tired statement,

"You! I've got a message for you!"

"Me!?" asked Spike, pointing to himself, "What is it?"

"Your friends have been captured by the Prince!" panted the mare, her tongue sticking out as she tried to catch her breath, "But Twilight gave me this letter for you. She said you could contact the Prince's brother."

"They've been captured?" wailed Spike, "Oh no!"

"We must depart for the castle immediately." said PAL, standing up from the table while placing both hands down on it sharply.

"There's no way you're going to be able to get into the castle without being caught." replied Wintergreen sadly, "I was told that you could send this letter out to Equestria though. Can you really do that?"

"Sure!" the dragon said as he picked up the scroll, "We're going to need all the help we can get."

Tossing the scroll up into the air, Spike spat a short stream of flame at the parchment, incinerating the paper.

"Why did you do that?" screamed Wintergreen.

"Relax." answered Spike, "My firebreath's been enchanted by Princess Celestia to deliver any letters I burn right to her. We'll get an answer back soon, hopefully."

"Oh, I hope master is all right." moaned PAL, sitting back in his chair.

"I hope so too." nodded Wintergreen, "The Prince was quite angry when he heard they were friends of Princess Celestia."

"EEEK!" shouted the owner of the store as she dove behind her counter, "Don't say that name! She'll move the sun so close to us that we'll all cook!"

Wintergreen turned her head and said rather rudely, "Do you seriously believe all that stuff still? Seven ponies from Equestria have showed up, their two friends pay you to eat your food and drink your tea, and you think Princess Celestia is still a monster?"

"These two are servants of her?!" gasped the store owner.

"Servants? We've met with and aided her majesty on numerous occasions." droned PAL, a little confused by the terminology.

"You've both been very generous." she said, returning from behind the counter, "I've not had customers drop that much on drinks."

"We just needed a place to stay waiting for our friends to get back." Spike said, "PAL's the one who decided to spend so much. I'm not going to be able to drink all of this hot cocoa."

"If you two are being this kind, perhaps the Prince has exaggerated a bit about Equestria and Princess Celestia..." she mused.

"Well, if you believe it, spread the word." suggested Spike, "We came here to try and convince you guys to open back up to Equestria."

"I'll do my best!" answered the shopkeeper with a smile.

Wintergreen said to PAL, "I'm going to help spread the word too while we wait for help to arrive."

"We'll go with you." answered the machine with a broad smile as he stood up, "Come on, Spike."

Spike nodded and climbed up onto the robot's left shoulder. The three then left the cafe to go talk about how life outside of Hourglass really was while they waited for help from Canterlot to arrive. If they could get the citizens of the city to believe that Princess Celestia was benevolent and wanted them to communicate with her country, then it would force Prince Sundial to reconsider his own ways.

* * *

Prince Darkmatter had decided to stay at Canterlot castle while waiting for a response from his sister's student and her friends. He was enjoying a hot cup of coffee, with arguably more sugar than coffee in the drink, and sat near a bay window in the throne room, looking at the snow outside. While he watched the snow fall harder than before curiously, he wondered why such a snowstorm was coming through when there were not any plans for snow from the weather pegasi.

He asked of his sisters, "Do you know where this snow is coming from?"

Princess Celestia answered, "I'm not sure, brother. I've contacted Cloudsdale to ask if the weather factory has been malfunctioning, but their mechanics have replied that the machines are working fine. The snowblower received its one hundred thousand storm tune-up just a week ago."

"Remember when peagsi had to chill the clouds themselves if they wanted snow, rather than use the magic machines for it?" chuckled the Prince, "Was funny to watch if they didn't have any chilling potions."

"I'm glad our balance of machines and magic has gone as it has." answered the princess, standing up from her throne and wandering over to her brother, "It's nice that earth ponies and pegasi have been able to make technology serve them."

"Especially Techorse!" exclaimed Luna, standing up and raising a hoof, "His machines are way beyond what anypony has seen this century!"

"Techorse's machines come from secrets he's taken from his original home, or at least that's what we discovered when my scientists tried to reverse engineer his 'battle saddle'." sighed Darkmatter, "I'm glad he keeps his best gadgets secret. His machines in the wrong hooves could be very dangerous. They almost ended up being my own tools of revenge."

"Most of Techorse's inventions are kitchen appliances and simple things for sale." assured Celestia, smiling, "In fact, I've bought a few myself for the castle chefs. All of the powerful gadgets either end up being destroyed, like a shrinking ray he once had, or get placed out of reach of the public."

"He's responsible, like any good citizen!" bellowed Luna.

She then lowered her voice and continued, "But of course, the colt does make mistakes. He's not perfect."

"And he's quite the gullible guy." added Prince Darkmatter, chuckling.

"That gets him into quite a bit of trouble sometimes, but it's part of what makes him unique." said Princess Celestia, "Holding the Element of Justice requires being able to give others a fair chance, and he certainly fulfills that."

Suddenly, a small burst of green energy appeared over Princess Celestia's head, and the scroll sent to her dropped in front of her on the floor. Prince Darkmatter looked at the summoned roll of paper curiously, and poked it with his hoof.

"What's this?" he asked, "It came out of nowhere."

"Oh, it must be a letter on the progress my student Twilight Sparkle has made with Sundial." said Princess Celestia, picking up the scroll with her magic, "As you send letters to Limpwing via enchanted origami, I have given her assistant Spike the power to send messages to me through his fire breath."

"Well please, read it!" asked Princess Luna, sitting down on a nearby throw pillow, "I wish to hear of Twilight Sparkle's progress."

Princess Celestia unrolled the parchment, and her two siblings watched her eyes track the text,

becoming more and more fearful as she finished the letter.

"This is horrible. Brother has imprisoned them all, and is demanding we step down as the Princesses of Equestria." she said slowly, sadness in her eyes.

Princess Luna's mouth fell open, "What...?"

Darkmatter stood up and declared, "I must do something about this! It was foolish of me not to accompany them in the first place, and I accept full responsibility for this. I will travel to his nation and confront him."

The Prince walked away from his sisters at a fast pace, heading for the door.

"Wait!" called out Celestia, "We're coming with you!"

"He'll attack." responded Darkmatter, looking over his shoulder, "It'll be unsafe without a detachment of guards. Even then, that'd put your guards at risk."

"Then we will go to Steamcastle and get Princess Cadance's aid." stated Luna, forming a tactic in her mind, "Surely his own daughter can convince him to let them go."

"They haven't seen each other since Cadance was young." questioned Darkmatter, turning around fully, "Suppose he doesn't recognize her?"

"Then we'll need other means of... subduing him." said Celestia, "We cannot allow our brother to continue to cut off his city to the rest of the world, nor can we allow him to hurt Twilight Sparkle or any of her friends."

Darkmatter nodded, and opened the door to the throne room with his magic before turning around to exit. In the doorway, wrapped in his black cape, stood Captain Arbiter, a mischievous smile on his face.

"I heard somepony needed subduing." he said, chuckling, "Perhaps I can be of service?"

"We can handle this Captain." answered Princess Celestia, rolling her eyes, "It is our brother."

"I'd still like to come along." he said, continuing to partially block the doorway, "It is my duty to protect you."

"Why the sudden interest, Captain?" asked Darkmatter.

The pegasus looked at him with his remaining eye and explained himself, "I've heard your lieutenant has joined you on this mission, and I'd like to get another chance to work with her again."

The two Princesses turned their heads slightly in confusion at the Captain's sentence, and Arbiter coughed once to try and draw their attention away from the sentence.

"You know, because we're both officers and keepers of the law. I enjoy working with another pony who loves swords as much as I do." he said, "Plus, she owes me ten bits."

"You don't have to make excuses, Arbiter." said Celestia, "You only needed to ask. Come with us to Steamcastle."

"Let's depart then." he answered, smiling on the inside, but placing his typical tough expression on his face.

Prince Darkmatter's horn glowed brightly with golden energy as he cut a hole in space and time in the middle of the air.

"Meet you there, my sisters!" he cheered before jumping into the wormhole and sealing it behind them.

The two alicorns looked at each other momentarily, and then, after nodding, charged their own spells to teleport themselves and Captain Arbiter to Cadance's castle. The race against time to save Twilight Sparkle, and perhaps win back their brother, had begun!

Or so they had thought.

* * *

In a remote tower in Canterlot Castle, the Element vault sat alone. It didn't need to be guarded constantly with the castle walls and magical lock serving as defenses for the artifacts inside. Princess Celestia appeared before the vault in a flash of light, having split off from her sister. Looking around to make sure none of her guards were nearby to interfere, she cast a small combination spell into the vault's lock. The door's handle turned and recessed into the door, and the vault opened with the sound of stone grinding on stone.

"_I can't believe I'm doing this._" she thought miserably as the door finished opening.

The white alicorn, her multicolored hair flowing behind her, entered the vault, and carefully opened the brand new containers for the Elements. By standing with her four hooves on certain panels on the floor, the center of the empty room opened up, and a new mobile, built of solid marble, arose from the center, with each of the artifacts adorning an arm. Twilight's tiara artifact sat at the top on a small pedestal, and the scales of justice sat in a glass enclosure at the base of the structure. Princess Celestia carefully removed each of the artifacts from their places, and put them inside a silver case she had brought with her. Packing them into the velvet interior, the Princess finished putting the artifacts in the case, and sealed it shut before tying it to her side.

She then stood and stared at the empty mobile, before returning to its place beneath the floor. Resealing the vault, Princess Celestia moved into the middle of the castle hallway, and looked over the stained glass windows depicting every major use of the Elements of Harmony. The Princess felt a surge of sad emotion, both guilt for having used the powers entrusted to her against her sister, and that she may be forced to do so again on her brother in order to save her student and her friends.


	2. Chapters 9 - 17

Techorse III: Secrets of the Crown

By Spirals95

* * *

Chapter 9

Rainbow Dash carefully finished carving another slash into the wall of the cell using a fragment of floor tile she had found on the ground earlier.

"Rainbow Dash, we've been in here for an hour." criticized Rarity, "There's no need to go making tally marks like we've been here forever."

"I'm just trying to keep myself entertained." groaned the pegasus, "I'm so bored."

"If only there was a way we could get out of here for just a few minutes." said Applejack, "I could really use a little exercise."

"Yeah, but the door is locked using a curse from the outside, and those shield runes prevent physical force from getting through, especially magic." explained Twilight, shaking her head sadly, "We'd need a way to get the lock open, and we can't steal a key since the door's solid."

Techorse then got an idea and offered, "Maybe I could try melting the lock using my laser cannons. Comettail didn't strip me of my battle saddle. I could use the solid beam mode to burn right through the door, and then we can just push it open and escape!"

"But what happens if we get caught?" interrupted Fluttershy, "They might hurt us!"

"Then let's not try to escape." said Techorse.

"Why not?" asked Rainbow Dash.

The inventor raised his front hoof and told her, "We're here to help the citizens of hourglass learn that Equestria is a perfectly hospitable country, much like what we did with The Domain. I'm thinking we should all split up and make ourselves useful to the castle servants. By using our talents to help them out, maybe they'll convince the Prince to let us stay with them instead of locked up in here."

"That's genius!" cheered Pinkie Pie, hopping up and down, "I'll make a break for the kitchen and get baking!"

"I suppose there's probably some heavy liftin' that needs doing around here." mused Applejack, interested in a good physical challenge, "All right Techie, open the door for us."

"Just one second. We need to check to see if there are any guards out there first." warned Twilight Sparkle as she walked up to the door.

"HEY!" she shouted loudly, "We're hungry in here! Are you going to starve us?"

"Prince Sundials' a big loser!" called Rainbow Dash, figuring an insult might also draw fire from the guards.

"The coast must be clear!" smiled Twilight Sparkle, "All right Tech, open it up!"

Techorse moved over to the large wooden door and located the lock. With a mechanical click, the panels on the sides of his back-worn device opened up, and a pair of steel tubes mounted as barrels on small laser projectors emerged. The colt aimed his weapons at the lock on the door, and using his thoughts to control the device, switched the machinery from firing individual pellets of electromagnetic energy, to firing a solid beam. Two rays of yellow light shot from the weapons and hit the door, slowly drilling into the lock. A molten stream of metal dripped from the hole of the lock and onto the floor, making a sickly sizzling sound as the steel melted and vaporized under the intense heat of the rays. Within a few seconds, the lock had been completely penetrated, and the ponies pushed open the door to find the hallway completely empty.

"All right everypony, split up and make yourselves useful!" said Applejack happily, rearing up on her hind legs.

The ponies split up to go find work in the castle and get the servants and guards on their side against the Prince. Pinkie Pie bounced merrily down the hallway to go find the kitchen, Rainbow Dash and Applejack went to find a damaged portion of the castle to help the maintenance team, and Fluttershy and Rarity went to see if the castle had a barber, tailor, or other help. This left Techorse and Twilight, who discussed as they walked down the hallways what they should do.

"I think I should see if there's a library in the castle." suggested Twilight, "I can easily be of help there! Maybe you can find the castle's boiler room and help them out with the steam machinery."

"Actually, I'd like to come with you, sweetheart." he replied, "I haven't had much of a chance to read books together with you lately, and I'd like to get back into that."

"Of course!" answered a happy Twilight giving him a hug, "Fiction, or non-fiction?"

"I guess we'll decide when we get there. Let's go!" he said, wrapping his tail around hers.

They both trotted together down the hallway in search of the castle library. From around the corner behind them, Captain Comettail watched with a keen eye from beneath her helmet. She gave an impressed smile as she moved a piece of mane hair out from in front of her eye, and knew she wasn't going to raise the alarm on her escaping guests just yet.

"Clearly they don't want to break out of the castle since they split up. I want to see what becomes of this." she said before clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, "Maybe I can have some fun with our guests!"

* * *

The chef of the castle looked over her ingredient list, and back at the end result of the chocolate souffl_é_ recipe she was supposed to be making for Prince Sundial's dessert. The picture on her comically oversized "royal cookbook" showed a fluffy, luscious looking desert certainly chock full of calories and sugar. The puffy cake like pastry was supposed to resemble a beautiful mushroom of chocolate cake in a ramekin. Of course, the chef was very dismayed, as her finished product resembled a flat, mushy brownie instead, all squished into the bottom of the ramekin.

"This is the fourth time I've messed up!" cried the dismayed lead cook, "His majesty is going to be furious with me!"

Her assistant, a unicorn pony who aspired to become a bread store owner one day, also had no luck in determining why the dessert continuously failed to bake correctly. The souffl_é _recipe itself had been easy to figure out, but something was going wrong with the baking process. Both of the ponies had tried changing the oven temperature, letting the batter sit before baking, and even letting the finished product cool inside the oven instead of removing it. But all attempts had resulted in the same disgusting flat product as before.

Pinkie Pie entered the kitchen area, and marveled at the fancy sets of cooking equipment and utensils hanging up on wooden racks on the walls. For such an old looking castle, it had contained a rather modern kitchen with all the bells and whistles, including electric ovens and stoves, blenders, and other cooking appliances.

"Wowie!" Pinkie Pie said as she trotted through the white-painted room, "They've got everything here! I bet the chef ponies have lots of fun cooking great meals and snacks here!"

The pink mare heard sounds of frustration and sorrow coming from a set of stainless steel doors in the kitchen, and walked over to them. Opening them up, she found the two chefs staring at the sad excuse for a soufflé.

"Hi!" she said.

The chef and her assistant looked up from the cookbook, and recognized Pinkie Pie as one of the prisoners.

The assistant asked with astonishment, "Hey, how'd you get out of your room?!"

"Laser beams!" answered the earth pony, smiling.

The two cooks looked at each other with slight shock and confusion, before returning to Pinkie Pie.

"I'm not going to try anything funny!" assured Pinkie Pie, "Well, maybe something funny, but not dangerous! Pinkie Promise!"

"Um... all right." muttered the lead chef, "Well, we're kind of busy right now, if you don't mind."

Pinkie Pie moved at a blur of a pace, zipping up between the two mares, and looked at the cookbook. She then looked back and forth at the picture and recipe, and then at the finished, floppy cake.

"What's this?" asked Pinkie Pie curiously.

The assistant groaned, knowing Pinkie Pie had no intention of leaving them be, and said, "It's a soufflé we've been trying to make all day. No matter what we've tried, it comes out looking flat."

"Didja add water to the oven to steam it?" asked Pinkie Pie of the lead chef.

"Yes." she answered.

Pinkie Pie looked back at the dessert, and then promptly questioned the chef once more, "Remember to let it cool sloooowly?"

"YES!" she yelled angrily, "We've tried that too!"

Pinkie Pie scratched her fluffy head with a hoof, "And the noise?"

"Noise?" asked the lead chef.

"Well yeah." continued Pinkie Pie, "A souffle needs this stuff called 'white noise' to keep it from getting all floppy from loud sounds in the kitchen! I usually just put a desk fan in front of the oven, but you can use anything, like a dishwasher, or some maracas!"

"Let's retry the recipe and put a fan in front of the oven!" concluded the lead chef, "We'll see if you're right about this."

The mares worked together to try the recipe again, stirring up a nice chocolate batter and pouring it into a freshly washed ramekin. They added a small tray of water into the oven along with the batter to help moisten the cake, and closed the door, but not before setting up a desk fan in front of the oven to keep the noise inside down as Pinkie Pie had suggested. Sure enough, when the soufflé was done baking, it correctly achieved the puffy size and shape it was supposed to. The two chefs couldn't be more thrilled with Pinkie Pie having saved them from a berating by the Prince!

"Oh my gosh, you did it!" squealed the assistant, "It actually worked!"

"But how did you know?" the lead chef wondered.

"It's easy, I love baking things! In fact, I work as a baker for my boss back in Ponyville." answered Pinkie Pie with a cheerful grin, "I was taught this trick by his wife!"

"Can you help us sort out some other things? We're not really great dessert chefs." admitted the assistant, "We mostly cook meals."

"Of course! As an Equestrian, It's an honor to help another pony learn to bake yummy treats!" she said, closing her eyes and smiling.

The lead chef introduced herself, "By the way, my name is Flour Sift, and this is Pepper Mill, my assistant."

"I'm Pinkie Pie!" replied the pink earth pony, "It's really been fun cooking with you girls!"

Comettail burst through the door to the kitchen, the two male guards from before at her sides.

"Uh oh." gulped Pepper Mill, stepping back.

"Ah, Pinkie Pie is it?" asked Comettail, frowning.

"I just said that!" she answered, turning around, before her eyes grew wide as she saw the captain and her troops.

"Let's take her back to her cell, after teaching her not to escape!" laughed the first guard.

To Pinkie Pie's surprise, Comettail slapped him upside the head with her hoof, "I will handle this, corporal. You are to remain silent."

"Please Captain, don't take her away!" begged Flour Sift with big pleading eyes, "Pinkie Pie has helped us finish the Prince's dessert. Without her we couldn't have done it."

This made Comettail reconsider her actions. Originally she was going to toy with the prisoners before punishing them and returning them to their cell. Now, it seemed as if the so called "horrible Equestrians" under Princess Celestia were beginning to aid those around the castle. This is precisely the idea that Pinkie Pie and her friends had wanted to plant in the minds of the ponies of Hourglass castle, but Captain Comettail was unaware of this.

She said to Pinkie Pie, "Is that so? Why would you break out of your cell just to help the cooks? I thought you were out to cause trouble."

"Nope, I wanted to bust some boredom and bake things." answered Pinkie Pie, pointing at the dessert on the stainless steel table, "I guess you've caught me though..."

"Perhaps we can work something out." suggested the Captain of the guard, "The Prince doesn't need to know you're all out of your cells, and if you're going to serve us, I personally don't see why I can't simply leave you under the supervision of the castle staff."

"Try anything stupid though, and we're throwing you behind bars again." sneered the other brother, who was promptly whacked over the head by the Captain.

The two brothers excused themselves, and left the Captain alone, retreating into the hallway. It was apparent that their leader had forgotten that she was dealing with enemies of Prince Sundial, and that kind of forgiveness could not be tolerated in their simple, rotten minds. They disappeared into the depths of the castle, plotting between themselves to warn the Prince and perhaps gain a few ranks when he inevitable fired Comettail. They were corporals Slate and Granite, two earth ponies who had come from a background in mining minerals from nearby mountains before joining the military to gain influence over their fellow ponies. Always grumbling about their lot in life, never thankful, and most importantly, merciless towards any pony that stood in their way of becoming powerful, even their own boss.

"I'm sure you'll find my friends around too!" Pinkie Pie continued, "We're not escaping, we're trying to find some work while we wait for everything to turn out."

"I'll need to make sure of that first." said the Captain, nodding, "It is still my job to make sure you don't leave the castle grounds. Take care Pinkie Pie."

She then turned around and left, her armor making noises as she exited the kitchen and headed back into the castle to search for the others.

"Well, looks like I'm staying!" cheered Pinkie Pie, which was met by the squee's of the two chefs.

* * *

Chapter 10

Prince Sundial had been alerted by his two guards of the escape of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. The bearded alicorn was furious that they had managed to get out of what was supposedly an inescapable room, and stormed off to go intercept them. He was currently wearing what he traditionally wore when indoors, his small silver crown and a set of brown leather and artificial fur boots that fit the cold climate of the nation he ruled. On his body was a fine coat made from a mixture of warm cottons and silk, somewhat light gray in color that was very soft to the touch. The servants of the castle grew afraid when the Prince, rage burning in his eyes, stormed through the hallways of his own home.

Meanwhile, Techorse and Twilight had finally found the castle's library on the third floor of the fortress. It was a beautiful, well decorated room with wooden shelves stacked as high as four ponies, each clearly labeled and sectioned out, with blue carpeting on the stone floor laid out between the rows, and electric lights overhead. There were books that Twilight hadn't even heard of before, mainly because they had been written by citizens of Hourglass City. She was having a field day looking over the stories and studies done by the citizens, struggling to force herself to stick to just one or two at a time so that she could read one complete idea.

"Wow!" she said, giggling like a schoolgirl, "I have never seen so many storybooks in one place! There's more adventure novels here than what they have in Canterlot's library. Way more!"

"Maybe the Prince likes stories too." Techorse thought allowed, picking up a volume with his robotic arms and reading into the first few pages, "You have something in common."

Twilight noticed a collection of dusty, thick tomes sitting behind the other more beautiful collections. The ancient looking books, bound with what looked like old leather, the pages clearly oxygen damaged as they were a yellowish color, were sitting by themselves, piled up.

Twilight tapped Techorse on the shoulder to get his attention, "Are those... spellbooks? We really ought to go check those out."

"All right, let's have a look." agreed the inventor as he replaced his book on the shelf in front of him.

They approached the old volumes, very large and heavy as each had to be more than 300 pages, with caution. Twilight picked up the first book in the stack, noting how weighty the massive book was even when lifting it with her magic. Techorse assisted with his robot arms, and together with their combined strength, lowered the book onto the blue carpeted floor below them. The eager lavender mare than opened up the oversized tome, and started to read the first yellowed page with excitement in her heart and a twinkle in her eyes.

"These are the remainder of Starswirl the Bearded's time spells and other magical discoveries!" she squealed, eying over each and every word with delight, "This is Equestrian history! The greatest discoveries by the greatest spellcaster of all time, and they're right here in front of us Techorse!"

Techorse looked at the depictions of unicorns learning to slow time within the pages, and began to wonder what the consequences of unicorns learning to do that could be.

"Twilight, I know you've experimented with time spells before... is it dangerous?" Techorse asked, concerned about the safety of the magic.

Twilight answered honestly, "Time magic is the most difficult type of spell to use. Even healing is easier, and I've only ever been able to use healing magic once as well."

"The time you healed me after my duel with Arbiter..." he said.

"Do you remember your theory about magic you told me when we first met?" she asked, smiling.

"Of course." he answered, smiling back, "Thoughts and feelings are converted into useable energy through a focal point on the body, usually a large cluster of nerves, like your horn."

"That's right. To tell you the truth, I have never been able to use healing spells all that well due to their extreme difficulty." she said, blushing, "I was only able to do it because I was emotionally determined to save you."

Techorse gave her a warm hug, wrapping his front legs around her, "That's what makes you such a great mare, Twilight. You've always been determined to find a way to help your friends out of trouble."

"Thank you." she said, trying to get back on topic, "But where I was going with all of this was that I was only able to travel in time for a few minutes. I doubt the information in these books will cause any problems for the rest of Equestria. The amount of practice and energy needed to do these time spells is probably too much for most ponies."

"I'm sure you could do it now!" challenged Techorse.

"No I couldn't!" she laughed, "Maybe with a little practice though."

"I definitely think so." he answered, giving her a loving look.

A thought occurred to Techorse that he had considered before, but had never really asked his marefriend, "But do you ever wish I was a unicorn so that I could learn magic with you?"

Twilight shook her head, "Of course not. You have your machines that make you special, and I think those are pretty neat too. But even if you weren't an inventor, I'd still love you for your personality. You're a great pony."

With a warm glow in her eyes and a movement of her head that swished her mane slightly, Twilight leaned in and moved into a kiss with Techorse. They locked lips for a second, and pulled back to look at each other in the soft light of the castle library.

"Back to reading?" she asked.

"Oh yeah." he answered.

* * *

They both eagerly dove back into the spellbook to learn about what Starswirl the Bearded had discovered during his time. While they were reading, they noticed that the light in the library had gotten slightly dimmer, as if there was some kind of darkness overtaking the book. The two realized what was going on, and knew that someone's shadow was being cast on the book. They slowly turned around, and were both grabbed and lifted into the air by Prince Sundial's magic. The two ponies kicked their legs, and Twilight attempted to use her own magic to counter his and secure her release. The Prince simply grated his teeth, and stuck both of his captives onto a nearby patch of carpet. Casting a time freeze spell at their hooves, he effectively froze them to the floor, as their legs were stuck in a moment of time, unable to move.

"Let us go!" shouted Twilight, her legs rooted to the floor as if by superglue.

Prince Sundial ran a hoof through his blonde, jagged mane, and answered, "Why should I let you go? You've escaped your cell."

"We were trying to be of use around the castle." Techorse explained.

"You are of most use to me as captives." he answered, "Plus, as Celestia's friends, no intention of yours can be good. Let's see what you've done in here this past few minutes."

The alicorn stepped between the two trapped ponies and his horn glowed a fierce yellow as he used a special form of time magic that allowed him to replay the events that had occurred in an area over the past few minutes. Ghost images of Techorse and Twilight entered the library, much to the real ones' amazement and slight horror. The books they had read had been replaced by spectral forms that displayed them entering the library and picking them up to read, both in the correct order, and the correct length they had read them. The spell even let the Prince listen to their conversation, eventually leading up to Techorse and Twilight kissing. Once he had reached the end of the events prior to him entering the room, Sundial ended his spell, and the ghostly figures vanished without a trace. He then removed Techorse's time shackles, and lifted him up into the air again, this time by his tail.

"You... kissed this colt?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Twilight.

"Yes, he's my coltfriend!" answered Twilight.

The Prince laughed, "This pathetic little colt is your love? You are Celestia's top student, you could pick any stallion you want, and you go with this? The green one is not even a soldier, or anything!"

Techorse looked down at the ground, somewhat ashamed of himself, "Well, I'm not a soldier. I never wanted to be one."

"Pitiful." said the Prince, before throwing Techorse like a toy across the room.

Techorse smashed into the library wall before falling onto the floor. He got back up on his legs, and looked back at the alicorn with an angry expression.

"He's the right pony for me." said Twilight with a hint of anger, "You're just so heartless you can't see why."

"You know what is heartless?" he answered sarcastically, "Having your little sister ripped away from you, by your own family."

Techorse walked back up to the Prince, and wondered if he should consider trying to lure him into attacking him so that he would forget about his time spell, and free Twilight.

"My name is Techorse." he answered, bitterly, "I've come a long way ever since I first came to Equestria."

"...And he's not as weak as you think he is, Sundial." added Twilight.

The Prince turned around, "I do not use that name anymore."

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Ok, fine. Temporios."

"I do not go by that name either! I am just The Prince of Hourglass." he said, angrily as her turned back around, "I have not wanted any of my names ever since Celestia took Luna. I do not need a name."

"Well fine, if you're going to be this arrogant, I can't stop you." said Twilight, grunting, "We're just trying to keep you from doing something crazy. If we can't convince you that Princess Celestia is good now, and that Princess Luna has returned, then we're going to at least make sure you don't rule Equestria."

"You can't stop this." he answered, shaking his head, "Celestia values you too much, and will not watch you suffer. She'll either face me, or turn over her kingdom."

Twilight groaned as the insane alicorn moved over the to pile of ancient tomes on the floor.

The Prince continued, "I see you've read the spellbooks. As you can see, I am quite dedicated to time magic. It has always been my specialty."

"If that's the case, how come you never went back in time to stop everything from happening you didn't want to in the first place?" demanded Twilight, "Why put us all through this?"

"Because you cannot change the past." stated the Prince, "Nobody believes you came from the future. Even you, do not believe you."

Twilight Sparkle knew that he was telling the truth, as she was well aware that her own past self hadn't listened. It was likely that Sundial had made hundreds of attempts to stop Princess Celestia from using the Elements of Harmony against her own sister, only to be thwarted by time limits on the spell, or the lack of listening by others.

"Starswirl's discovery was amazing, to be able to travel time, stop it, speed it up, slow it. It is only irony that his relative know it better." mused the Prince.

"You don't deserve to practice the magic such a great pony as Starswirl the Bearded did!" yelled Twilight, nearly making Techorse go deaf.

Prince Sundial stood there, giving a slight chuckle, "Starswirl, great? What nonsense must sister be telling you. Starswirl the Bearded was not the pony you think he was."

"W..What? You liar!" replied the unicorn, shocked at what he was saying. To a magic user such as herself, saying that Starswirl was not a great pony was almost blasphemy!

"Twilight, don't you remember what my future self told me earlier?" asked Techorse, "He said that Starswirl caused an imbalance in the Elements of Harmony."

"I do... but the way that you said he put it... it was all a big accident!" she said with desperation.

The Prince smirked, his beard moving with his face muscles, "Perhaps... you'd like to know the truth?"

Techorse and Twilight looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes. They really didn't have a choice in the matter as to whether or not they wanted to listen to Prince Sundial, but they were curious as to what he had to say about the past.

* * *

Chapter 11

1,500 years ago

In the darkness of the late night, a moonbeam passed through the window of the west atrium, shining through the castle's glass, illuminating the center of the room in a subtle shine. The room was left unguarded, for the most part it was simply kept a secret, and the lack of decorations within the room made it a very unattractive choice of target for thieves and troublemakers. One of the sets of wooden doors leading into the room creaked open slowly, and was quietly closed shut as Starswirl entered the room, stroking his famous beard with the end of his magic floating staff. He walked towards the center of the room deliberately, taking care not to let the bells on his ornate cloak notify anyone of his presence as he went to the center circle in the room.

Once he had found the area where the mobile was being stored, he tapped his staff gently on the edge. The carpet and stone drew back, and the mobile rose out of the ground with a soft grinding noise of stone. Each of the Element crystals sat, shining in the darkness of the night, the arms of the mobile rotating around. Starswirl looked up at the top Element, the one representing Magic, and took a short breath before raising his staff in the air. White magic energy shot from his horn, connected with the tip of the staff, and then entered the top crystal on the mobile. The power balance of the Elements of Harmony was being disrupted, shifting it further and further towards Magic, leaving the other ones less powerful than their product.

"Very soon, Magic shall be the most powerful of the Elements! This imbalance will ensure Magic's dominance throughout the ages as the most vital force in existence."he said, the arc of magic from his horn glowing more furiously.

Meanwhile, in the city outside the castle, a disgruntled unicorn pony mare had found her way into the village most of the earth ponies called their home, carrying a brightly burning torch. During that week, a rude earth pony mare had dared to try and convince her brother that she was worth spending time what. Such an indignity could not go unpunished, thought the mare. Her lectures she had taken from the school of sorcery under Starswirl the Bearded had taught her that magic users were on a higher level than those who did not know magic, and the magic less earth ponies were to be avoided, and shown their place should they dare to express love or any kind of relation to them. This incorrect way of thinking, along with a grave miss-interpretation of Starswirl's teachings, led her to take her torch to the home of the stallion who had dared to hit on her sister. The unicorn mare gave her actions not another thought, before she lit the thatch roof of the home on fire. As the flames spread, the family inside awoke, and ran outside, unable to catch the arsonist unicorn who had fled to light other homes.

Unfortunately, the results of the fire became worse and worse within just half of an hour. The flames reached the home of a firework maker, and bottle rockets shot from the house into the cloud homes above, giving the pegasi fires to deal with and waking them from their sleep. The ashes that rained down from the homes burning above lit those below, and the tapestries within the unicorn pony forts and castles also ignited. Within just an hour, the entirety of Equestria was either burning, or keeping the flames at bay. With the fires, came accusations, even as the pegasi brought in clouds to pour rain on the fires, they too were brought to question. The conflagration continued, and the three types of ponies clashed in one supreme fight. The four alicorn descendents of the king and queen fled the castle to aid their citizens in stopping the blaze, but found themselves overwhelmed, not by the fires, but by the rioting and melee. It was only by luck that Celestia managed to reach and seal the pegasi's weapons vault before the other ponies did, that the violence did not turn tragic.

The King and Queen watched their city and the scattered fires throughout, and realized that their kingdom had likely come to an end. With such great social imbalance between the three classes of ponies, a large scale fire had left them unable to work with each other and unable to save their homes. They could feel the last of their subjects' happiness drain away as even the unicorn ponies were brought into the fight. Despite the horror before them, the King and Queen sensed something down below in the castle. A flash of light had occurred from the west atrium of the building, and the couple looked at each other, realizing what had happened. They quickly moved for their work, hoping to save it before it was too late.

* * *

Starswirl had seen the fires outside, but figured it was simply a tragic accident, focusing on his task at hand. If he could gain just a few more moments, he would permanently unbalance the Elements of Harmony, and make the other ones meaningless in front of Magic, effectively destroying them.

"I suppose when the wielders of the Elements go to use them." he thought out loud, "The holder of Magic may very well absorb far more energy than their body can handle. No matter, a little change in the name of this art is no skin off of our coats."

"STARSWIRL!" shouted a loud, angry voice.

The magician ceased his modifications, and turned to face the large set of double doors. They swung open violently, and King Diurne barged in, accompanied by his wife.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, teeth bared and eyes glaring.

"I'm only doing what you two should have done before!" he answered, the heat of the fires outside shining into his eyes and across his white beard, "I have changed the Elements, increasing the output of Magic when the Elements have combined! Magic shall reign as the most powerful forever, no other concept shall stand!"

"You've gone mad." said Nocturna, trying not to cry, "The Elements of Harmony were our last hope for stopping the fighting, like what has happened to our city. The fires are raging, and here you are Starswirl, trying to preserve thine way of thought!"

"It's far too late nonetheless." admitted Starswirl, "Without something to balance out your artifacts again, the holder of Magic will forever run the risk of suffering buildup of power until they become the most powerful magic users possible. They will become like you and your husband."

"Our lot is not something we would wish on any pony, Starswirl." grunted the King, throwing his crown off with a flick of his head, ready for combat, "To live forever, to be one of us, is a burden when you outlive each of your friends. Such power must be confined to those born into it, it is our burden alone!"

"Then, perhaps, should you not wish your fates upon any other pony, I should simply destroy these artifacts forever." offered the mage, pointing at the mobile, glowing with sickly gray energy, "If the Elements are used as is, terrible things will happen. I have not yet finished writing a spell to counter what I have done, and should it even be finished, the Elements will still not be balanced!"

"Then you'll finish it!" demanded the King and Queen stepping forward.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you to see things my way." he answered, swinging his staff around, "I'll simply have to hold you back, until I can finish my work."

A beam of energy shot from his horn, to the tip of his staff, and at the pair of alicorns he once held as his adopted children. The alicorns fought back with their own magic, countering the beam of destructive energy with a bubble shield. A reflected ray of magical energy tore through the wall of the atrium, leaving an ugly burn mark. The King and Queen dropped their field, and counterattacked Starswirl with their own bolts of energy, which the mage quickly responded to by teleporting himself out of the way, and onto the top of the mobile. He then raised his staff, and prepared to strike it through the Magic crystal, to forever remove any hope of balance.

The King and Queen, weak but capable, looked at each other and smiled before turning to Starswirl. They knew in their hearts that the only way to stop Starswirl would be to exhaust their own magical energies, but if it meant saving Equestria, it was worth it. They touched the tips of their horns together, creating an arc of magic across the two organs, and forming a small ball of white light. As energy built up between them exponentially, the ball soon turned into a fine white line of energy, which was then released from the two alicorns. The line shot for Starswirl's staff, and impacted the magical artifact at the middle, which to his horror, shattered his prized wooden cane. No sooner had this happened though, that the super concentrated magic that had mixed with the power of the staff detonated in a fierce magical blast spanning several dozen meters, knocking Starswirl off of the mobile, damaging the floors and walls of the atrium, and leaving the two alicorns drained.

The mage, his precious staff destroyed and his white beard burnt heavily at the bottom, stood up shakily from the ground. His two adoptive children had defeated him, as his staff had served as an amplifier for his own skills. Due to his actions, the alicorns had left themselves feeble, unable to barely stand, as the lack of happiness from their subjects, their illnesses, and their use of all their mental energy to make that one key attack. They would be unable to use any kind of spell in that kind of mental condition, perhaps for years.

Even though he had been badly shaken up by the blast, and he was unable to finish his attempt at destroying the Elements of Harmony, Starswirl remained conscious and full of thoughts. It was at that moment that he came to an epiphany. Perhaps it was the King and Queen's love for Equestria that had motivated them to take him on, and sacrifice their magic abilities to stop him. Perhaps, the magic that all ponies could access, really was the solution to Equestria's problems. He could hear the distant yelling and screaming of ponies running from fires and realized that likely, his over-valuing of magic had caused the social gap he was working to overcome. Not only would he be unable to save magic as the supreme way of the land, but he had also lost the order Equestria needed to make that meaningful.

"Here am I, trying to stop the death of my art." he said, staring at the ceiling in pain, "Instead, I have caused the death of peace in Equestria."

Starswirl stood up, and approached the two alicorns, heart heavy as he realized what he had done. Both of them continued to give him angry looks as he attempted to explain everything he had done.

He slowly told them, "I have failed Equestria by believing the power of magic alone was enough. I have denied its ponies access to the public magic thou hast described to me, and I was a fool for not genuinely celebrating your discovery. But know that I am not an evil being. I merely loved magic, enough to see it grow and flourish despite trouble."

After hanging his head, he continued, "I see now that all should be capable of participating in magic's cures. Those who suffer from the trials of life should be a part of the solution."

"Then reverse your damage." stated Nocturna, "It is not too late for forgiveness."

"Alas." he answered, "As I mentioned, I have not created a counter spell. It will be impossible to repair entirely."

The King and Queen did everything they could to not cry, believing their homeland would be thrust into darkness and fighting for all of time. Starswirl saw their sadness, and remembered the two teary-eyed alicorn foals he had rescued from abuse at a lonely orphanage many many years ago...

"And then, when you're grown, we'll turn Equestria into a grand kingdom! Perhaps we will live in this city now, but someday, we'll build a golden metropolis, a... Canterlot!" he had said to the two foals, following him down the streets.

"But sir." said the foal Diurne, "How will we do that? We're just foals."

"You're special foals!" he had answered, "Being both able to fly and cast spells is unique. Once I've promoted you to my school... someday they will value you. Someday they will crown you!"

"Crown us?" asked the young Nocturna, "I'll be a queen?"

"Yes, and it all begins once I've hailed in the new era of magic as the solution to life's worries!" he had replied, "You are the only two of your kind, and I am a well known magician. They say I can tell the future, and the future looks quite bright for you two!"

It had worked, too. Once it was determined quite rapidly that magic could solve most of life's ills, Starswirl was easily able to convince the citizens of Equestria to drop their silly town hall, and crown the alicorns, the gifts from the divine, to be the rulers of Equestria. But sadly, as time had gone on, magic became such a monopoly and force of power, that the ponies stratified themselves and fought. Now, Starswirl's dream was coming to an end. He had put up a valiant fight to preserve the idea that magic alone would solve the world's ills. Now, the only thing that could keep Equestria from being destroyed, was the power of friendship, the very thing that represented and powered the mobile currently in front of him. Of course, even though Harmony could still come into being through the Elements, and friendship would bring these Elements into play in Equestria, there was still the matter of the unbalance he had caused. There would likely be books written about how he, the supposed master of magic, had ruined the most powerful magic force of them all. He could not bear the shame of the damage he had done, and decided to do the only thing he knew he could to make it right.

"I must now go into exile." he announced to his adopted family.

The King and Queen did not agree with his decision. They two shared memories of better times in the past, and still saw Starswirl as their only family. To lose him meant losing far more than what they could handle at heart.

"Please, don't!" cried the Queen, "You may stay, we forgive you! Don't leave us Starswirl!"

"I have faith that the Elements of Harmony will still save Equestria. But even if they do, I no longer deserve to enjoy this land's glory." he explained, shaking his head, "I cannot bear the shame of being in a land I have ruined and brought trouble to."

Starswirl the Bearded took out a small dagger from under his cloak, and carefully cut off the burned part of his beard, shortening it. He then replaced the knife at his side, and charged his horn up, which glowed a furious white. A portal in time and space was torn open behind him and to his sides, a gateway to the forces of time itself.

"Starswirl..." called out Diurne, hoping to reconcile.

"We'll meet again... in time. Please, take good care of Equestria in my absence." he declared, a slight hint of smile and a few tears running down his face.

With that, he receded backwards into his own time travel spell, and the unicorn mage vanished as the portal collapsed in a bright flash. The Queen wailed, and both her and her husband hugged and cried bitterly.

Not only had their kingdom burned, they had lost the very first friend in their lives.

* * *

Chapter 12

Prince Sundial had brought Twilight and Techorse to his throne room to tell them the truth about the past, and why he was choosing to behave in such an isolationist manner when it came to the rest of his family. The throne room was a tall, circular room, almost one hundred feet to the ceiling, and Techorse recognized it instantly as the large main spire of the castle they had seen coming in. His throne was a large, fine wood chair with blue cloth for backing, and it was positioned in the center of the room, on a turnstile that allowed the throne to rotate in any direction the Prince wanted. Several windows were on the wall at equidistant areas on the tower, 12 divisions to be exact. Twilight looked at the edges of the room, and noticed the shadows cast on the floor from the main window at the top of the spire.

"Your throne room is a giant clock!" she said, "Did you make it this way?"

"This throne room was built with the care of architects from Hourglass. It is not my own design." he answered, seated on his throne, "My citizens have rewarded me for helping them to survive out here."

Slate and Granite, holding their crossbows with their magic, stood at the doorway to the throne room, and watched with grins on their faces. They knew that their own reward for revealing Comettail's traitorous nature and re-capturing the Element holders would be vast.

"Well, are you going to tell us the truth about the past?" asked Twilight, "You know, before you lock us up again?"

"I'd like your friends to be present for this, as they should know as well." said Sundial, chuckling, "Slate, Granite. Go deal with Comettail and bring Twilight Sparkle's friends back here."

"Yes sir!" they answered, leaving the room.

"Comettail? Your Captain? What did she do?" asked Techorse, a bit upset.

"She let you go free in my castle, disobeying my orders. For that, I'm having her locked up, and stripping her of her rank." he answered, shifting on his throne.

"That's horrible." said Techorse angrily, hearing the injustice about to occur.

Sundial smirked, "Perhaps next time she will think not to betray me."

Techorse growled at the Prince, leaning down in a menacing pose and scraping his hoof on the ground.

"You'll get what's coming to you." he said, "You can't get away with all this hatred forever."

"I cannot? But time has always been on my side!" he answered, "You cannot stop me, Techorse, and neither can you, Twilight. Both of you will be powerless should I choose to pause time around you."

"Discord found a way to beat you, and so will we!" countered Twilight with determination.

The Prince shook his head, and scratched at his beard with a hoof, "I will be rather shocked if that's so."

Slate and Granite found their former superior officer talking to Rarity and Fluttershy, who were busy aiding the castle seamstresses in fixing uniforms. The two treacherous unicorns laughed together, and then drew their crossbows, approaching their Captain.

"Freeze!" shouted Slate.

Comettail turned to face them, and put a hoof in the air, "I told you two it was ok if the prisoners were roaming the castle, so long as they don't leave the grounds."

"You're under arrest too, Comettail." snickered Granite, "The Prince has ordered us to take you away as well."

Rarity gasped, and Fluttershy could only mouth the words, "Oh my."

"Comettail, you're a big strong Captain! Twice as big as these fools!" Rarity said angrily, "Give these stallions a good roughing up!"

"The Prince has found you to be a traitor for aiding Princess Celestia's friends." Slate explained, "Fighting us will only help prove his case further. Now if you don't mind, we're going to be taking these two back to the throne room, and you're going into a cell. Remove your armor."

Wanting to speed things along, Granite pointed his crossbow at Fluttershy and said, "If you don't, we'll go for the prisoners instead, and tell the Prince that they were trying to flee."

Comettail was tempted to simply thrash the two disrespectful schemers and leave them unconscious in the hallway. However, if she did so, she knew that it was very likely that Fluttershy and Rarity would get hurt. So, she surrendered, removing her helmet to reveal her quite messy and unruly mane. After her armor was shed, her legs were shackled together by the brothers, and all three ponies were led away. After tossing Comettail into a jail cell in the same floor of the castle the previous cell had been on, the brothers left with Fluttershy and Rarity to go get the others. Pinkie Pie proved easy enough to bring back with them, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash put up quite the struggle before eventually being convinced to go along with the guards by their friends. Soon they found themselves in the throne room along with Techorse and Twilight.

"Ah, everypony is here. Excellent work my guards." said a rather pleased Sundial.

"I can't believe how you're acting!" huffed Rarity in a dismayed fashion, "Comettail was being quite reasonable with us, and you have her locked up! Some ruler you are, punishing good with evil!"

"I am a better leader than most." lied the alicorn, cracking the vertebrae in his neck, "I have a duty to protect my citizens from Equestria, even if that means punishing those who stand in my way."

"You'll pay for this." growled Rainbow Dash, "This is beyond uncool."

"Now that I have you all here." he said, ignoring the mare, "It is time I tell you the truth about Equestria's past. That is what I've gathered all of you for, to tell you how things really were."

The Prince stood up from his throne, and his horn glowed violently before rays of light were cast from it, extending in all directions. The tubular room flooded with the light, projecting perfect images of the old country of Equestria, it's villages all organized in neat rows, leading up to Oldcastle, which stood at the back.

"Over a thousand years ago, my parents ruled this country you call home. They were orphan foals adopted by the so-called 'great' Starswirl the Bearded," he said.

An image of the old mage appeared in place of the town, in front of the young King and Queen from the past. The real ponies in the room looked at the perfect image with great awe, especially Twilight Sparkle, who understood how much talent it took to perfect such hologram magic.

"Although he brought them up well, taught them magic, and even brought alicorns to the throne in Equestria, he failed to consider ponies incapable of magic as worthwhile subjects. Magic was supreme to him, and he looked down upon earth ponies and pegasi. Not so much mother and father, nor my siblings, nor myself. We wanted an Equestria where all ponies were equal, and could express the talents represented by their marks to the fullest their lives could offer." monologued Sundial poetically.

The image changed to that of the adult King and Queen creating the Elements of Harmony, placing each artifact into the mobile.

"To try and solve the fighting and bickering between the kinds of ponies, mother and father created artifacts for their discovery, the Elements of Harmony. It was a kind of magic they said any pony could access, and this made Starswirl furious, who believed in the superiority of private magic. He sabotaged their work, creating imbalance in the Elements."

Starswirl's hologram reappeared, and showed him tampering with the device with his staff, plus the argument between his adopted foals and him that ensued.

"Despite everything though..." said Sundial before catching himself.

"I... we'll return later." he said, dispelling what he was going to reveal. He didn't want the ponies to know that Starswirl eventually changed and felt remorse for his actions before leaving.

"Perhaps you've heard of Hearth's Warming Eve?" he continued, "It may surprise you to learn that it is a metaphor."

"Well, duh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "It wasn't meant to be, historically... um... accurate? Did I get that right, Twilight?"

"Yes, historically accurate." finished Twilight Sparkle, smiling, "And yes, we know that the play is meant to be a representation of Equestria finding peace between the types of ponies. We've just never known what actually caused that."

"You see." continued Sundial, "When the Elements of Harmony were activated, they were flawed by Starswirl. We, the four alicorns, were forced to put a curse on the world, so that it would stop turning should ponies not get along."

"Which would explain the freezing in the play." said Applejack, "Hatred must bring cold because of the curse!"

"Each of us are said to be in control of a force. My sisters, the sun and moon, and my brother, space. Myself, time. But in reality, we have only been attributed those roles based on our magic use. My sister does not really raise the sun each day."

"Maybe not, but it's tradition to think so." said Rarity, "I suppose we've just gotten used to the idea."

The Prince dispelled his holograms, and returned to his throne, "You see, my guests, after Equestria's problems were solved, our sisters began to grow in contempt for each other. With the planet's natural cycles, and the forces involved in keeping Equestria whole, Luna became jealous of Celestia."

"If you admit that Princess Luna did wrong and became jealous, how come you're so angry with Princess Celestia?" demanded Techorse.

"Because using the Elements of Harmony against her was excessive retribution." stated the Prince, "That is why I am attempting to bring her to justice."

"Well, as the Element of Justice." continued Techorse, "I can tell you that Princess Celestia paid for her mistake and quick actions. She cried every night of her life for a thousand years, sometimes not coming out of her room for hours, because of what she had done to Princess Luna. In fact, Equestria has voting, equality, and many freedoms for ponies because Princess Celestia wanted to provide the most happiness for her citizens, knowing she could never make up for what she did, but wanting to try. Now she acts as an executive, but enjoys seeing what a constitutional monarchy has done for Equestria."

"Hold on..." urged Sundial, holding up his left wing, "Did you say... Element of Justice?"

"Yeah!" interrupted Pinkie Pie, "Techie represents Justice, it's the seventh Element of Harmony that Princess Celestia discovered ages ago!"

"So there are possibly more Elements out there after all! Mother and father were wise." The Prince said, smiling, "But what does it do?"

"It makes the Elements of Harmony remove evil magic instead of just banishing it!" continued Pinkie Pie, not thinking about the consequences of that.

"Hmmm, well, perhaps I can use this." he said.

"What do you mean?" gasped Rarity.

"Now that I know there are seven Elements, and I have all seven of you, I will find a way to create artifacts for you, such that you can erase Celestia!"

"No!" shouted the ponies.

"You can't!" wailed Twilight, "Princess Celestia doesn't deserve what you want to do to her."

"There's no changing my mind." he answered, "I have no proof that anything you are saying is true. If you won't participate in helping me secure my vengeance, I'll have to convince you otherwise."

"Contact my unicorns, Slate and Granite." he said to his guards, "Tell them to begin construction of artifacts. Meanwhile, show them back to their new cell with Comettail."

"Yes sir!" they replied before beginning to walk towards the ponies.

"What about your daughter, Candace?" said Twilight, about to cry, "She would be miserable If she found out this is what you were up to!"

The Prince's eyes changed a bit as he heard his daughter's name, but he dismissed it, "Twilight Sparkle, my daughter left me years ago out of believing me to be too coldhearted. Her mother than promptly left me as well, to join her in Equestria."

"Wonder why..." said Applejack sarcastically.

"It is bad enough that my old dominion, The Crystal Empire, was seized by a shadow King." sighed Sundial, "Countering my time magic with a stunning burst of dark energy, before beating me up and sending me away. I used to be a great judge, since my brother and I have always sought out justice, like you Techorse."

"Justice has a dark side." said the stallion, "Becoming vengeful. I always feel terrible afterwords."

"Besides, King Sombra is gone!" said Twilight, "The Crystal Empire is back too, in one piece, and your daughter rules it."

"Oh my." said the Prince, standing up from his throne, "Is that so?"

"Yes!" they answered.

"Then justice has prevailed there." he said, before changing his tune again, "Of course, my daughter still hates me. I suppose it's best that she's moved on to other things. In the meantime, I still have this score to settle."

The ponies groaned, having made no progress, as they were being led away.

"Sundial." warned Techorse as the guards approached him, "Revenge is a really filthy road to go down. Are you sure you want to face the consequences for being so thirsty for it?"

"I suppose time will tell." he answered, smirking.

As soon as they had left, however, Prince Sundial canceled the order to have the artifacts built. If the Crystal Empire was still standing, there was hope. Reason was beginning to chisel off the ice covering his heart and soul.

The seven ponies were dragged back off to join Comettail in her previously lonely jail cell. Then, Slate and Granite returned to their posts, planning on goofing off for the rest of their shifts. There was no rush in their minds, as dragging the day out further increased their chances of getting the recognition they believed they deserved.

* * *

Chapter 13

1,500 years ago

The following few months became a time of sorrow for Equestria, as repairs from the great blaze had proceeded slowly due to the incessant quarreling of the ponies. As the time of great unhappiness progressed, the King and Queen began to get more and more ill. It was bad enough that they had to tell their foals that their godfather had left them, leaving the remainder of their diplomacy lessons and magic lessons up to themselves. They had taken it to mean that they would never see him again, and were moping about the castle. Despite this, the four alicorns continued to learn things they hadn't before, and grew in maturity as they realized they could function on their own even if their parents were sick, and their mentor vanished.

The second month, a few weeks away from winter, brought the alicorn ponies with perhaps the worst experience they would ever face in their lives. Queen Nocturna and her husband become very ill, the coughing and fainting had increased exponentially, and they both became bedridden in their chambers. The doctors and nurses of the land tried their very best to supply them with the greatest medicine, potions, and anything they could muster to try and heal the fading alicorns. Alas, they both knew that without their subjects being happy with life, they would soon run out of time. During the last week of the month, they called their four offspring into their bedchamber, and shooed away the medical staff.

Princesses Luna and Celestia stood to the left of the bed, on their father's side. Princes Darkmatter and Temporios stood on the other next to their mother. Great concern crossed their sad, worried eyes as they looked at their now weakened parents. Dark circles sat underneath their mother's eyes, and their father's mane had gone dull.

"My sweet foals." said Queen Nocturna weakly, "Your father and I love you more than anything else in Equestria. Did you know that?"

Princess Luna, still just a baby in the eyes of a millennium-old alicorn, nodded her head, trying not to burst into tears.

"We love you too!" she answered, a tear escaping her right eye.

"Oh, please do not cry." soothed Nocturna.

The King then spoke, "Celestia, Luna. You are the ones who will inherit the Elements of Harmony. We have left instructions in the mobile for you to carry out when you feel the time is right."

"We will." assured Celestia.

"My sons." turned the King to the two colts, "I wish for you to continue your pursuit of justice. The courts need you more than ever in this time of conflict. Someday, learning to judge fairly will make you great kings as well."

"We're not ready to be kings." said Temporios, hanging his head, "We'll never be!"

The queen brushed away his doubts, "All of you, my little ponies, will become great leaders someday. Perhaps for now you cannot see it, but in the future, Equestria will thank you for your work."

Darkmatter choked on his tears, and asked, "Why is this happening?"

The king answered him softly, "Darkmatter, this happens to all. I assure you it's nothing to be worried about. Everything has been taken care of, all you will need to do is keep the world in motion. Just as we love you, love this nation, and build it up again!"

"You may not be able to see it now, but it will come in time. And should you feel scared... just remember..." added the Queen.

Queen Nocturna and her husband looked at each other, and gave a small smile to each other, knowing the future would be taken care of. They then looked back at their four descendents, who had all gathered at the foot of the bed.

"How much we love you..." they said softly.

With those words, two heads rested against the pillows of the royal bed, and the King and Queen passed away peacefully with their family present.

"Mother!" cried out Luna, trying not to scream, "Father!"

Tears ran down the faces of the four young alicorns, who all gave each other looks of despair before crying, hugging each other and letting out their emotions. Each royal face was stained with tears and agony, even Celestia, considered to be the strongest of her family, cried until her throat clogged and her makeup ran. The nurses and doctors entered the room, realizing what had happened, and attempted to console the princes and princesses, but to no avail. As they began to dress the king and queen to take them away, Celestia had to be dragged back by her siblings.

* * *

Four hours had gone by, each a small eternity to the young royal ponies, who waited in their parents' throne room. They were still depressed, felt alone, and could barely think about anything but their loss. Two thrones of gold and gems were in the red-carpeted room, two thrones that would never see use again. The oak doors leading to the throne room opened, catching the attention on the mourning alicorns.

The entire castle staff and servants entered the room, dozens and dozens of ponies, from guards to cooks and cleaning crew. The four stood up, now in front of their parents' thrones, and watched as the ponies they thought only did their chores for them form lines in front of them. Each of them had a determined look on their face, something between anger and pride that filled them as they filed into the room. Once they had all entered, well over eighty different mares and stallions, they all bowed humbly before the four new rulers of Equestria.

"Wh... what are you doing?" said Luna, standing up.

The ponies stood up, and Test Keeper stepped forward with Fine Dust. They had recently gotten married despite the objection of their parents, and had eloped from them simply by spending all of their time in the castle.

"You're our new leaders, Princess Luna." explained Fine Dust, "We believe that you four can save Equestria! All of us grow weary of the fighting and suffering."

"Please! Usher in the new era of Harmony as predicted by your parents!" continued Test Keeper.

Princess Celestia thought about what her servants were saying, and spread her wings valiantly, getting the attention of her siblings.

"They are right." she said loudly to her brothers and sister, "We are the new leaders of Equestria now, and we have a duty to our subjects. Our days as foals are over. Let us go to the atrium and begin the use of the Elements of Harmony!"

The four royals galloped for the atrium, and reached the doors leading to the enclosure, when they noticed that their servants had taken a step back.

"What is wrong now?" demanded Darkmatter, craning his neck to see if any of them had left.

"As per... final request of the King and Queen." explained Test Keeper, "We are to allow no pony other than your majesty and his family into the room."

* * *

The alicorns continued on into the room unescorted, and noticed that the center platform now had a leather-bound book, brown with gold metal encasing the cover and back, had been left on top. Prince Temporios picked up the book first with his magic, and opened up to the first page of canvas, finding the instructions.

"The Elements of Harmony may be used so long as they are present in those around them." he read, "The Magic they create are stronger than any force in existence."

Princess Celestia held out her horn, and Temporios took that as a cue to relinquish the book. He gave her the volume, and the four siblings crowded around it, reading the contents.

"In order to save Equestria, you must use them to provide a reason for ponies to live in Harmony. Although we wish not to deceive our subjects, the Elements of Harmony, when not shown by Equestrians, quickly fall to chaos and fighting," read Princess Celestia, "The fighting seen in the real world is the result of the Elements not being present."

"The Elements of Harmony exist without artifacts?" questioned Darkmatter.

"Yes, each is a virtue of living in harmony." answered Celestia, understanding the text, "Perhaps there are even more than what we have now..."

Princess Luna picked up with the next passage, "With imbalanced Elements, however, they will produce a terrible consequence... a curse. A curse on the very planet of Equestria itself."

"A curse? On the entire planet?" gasped Luna, recoiling, "What evil!"

"Had the elements not been tampered with, there wouldn't be a curse," sighed Celestia, "But for now, we must manage it as best as we can."

Darkmatter pushed past with his solid black wing and continued, "Each of us must take on the role of an alicorn in control of a natural force. Celestia, you shall symbolically raise the sun. Luna, you shall give the impression of raising the moon. Temporios, use your knowledge of time to make each second count. Darkmatter, make the forces of gravity seem stable!"

"We are to lie to our subjects?" grunted Luna.

"No!" answered Celestia, "What this means is that we will remain in control over this curse. By using our talents in magic, we can show our subjects that everything is under control by their leaders. Should they choose to interpret this as us legitimately doing these things, so be it."

"The planet shall not spin, should harmony cease. A form of magical conflict between nature of the world, and the nature of ponies. This conflict, once resolved, will bring in a new era of peace." finished Luna, closing the book.

Silence overtook the four of them as they realized what their parents had wanted them to do. The Elements of Harmony, once activated, would due to their imbalanced state generate a curse on the planet as a side effect. Having both the power to restore good, and vanquish evil, the Elements would create a scenario in which conflict would lead the planet's very functions to grind to a halt. Effectively, the planet would cease rotating on its axis should the fighting continue, plunging the land into permanent twilight and bitter cold.

When the clock had reached midnight, the four alicorns gathered around the mobile, each in a corner of the center platform. The arms rotated around each other, passing by Celestia, Luna, Temporios, and Darkmatter, each glowing softly.

"Are we ready?" asked Celestia.

"Yes!" answered their siblings.

Princess Celestia shut her eyes, and her horn glowed a violent light, before she unleashed a beam of pure magic above the middle crystal of the mobile.

"For Equestria!" she shouted, her pupils vanishing as her eyes glowed.

"For Equestria!" shouted her siblings as they contributed their own rays.

The four rays, each a different shade between black and white, met in the middle and formed a rapidly spinning sphere of pure magic energy. A strong humming noise emitted from the mobile, each of the Element crystals glowed furiously and brightly as they became active from the bonds between the four siblings. The mobile rotated at its max capacity, and bands of various colors started to seep up and out of the Elements, slipping into the ball of light. Eventually, the four alicorns, now sweating as they contributed their magic to the greatest force they knew, released their power.

A huge, rainbow colored column of energy shot up from the mobile, leaving a large ring of white light in its path. A very loud discharge of sound akin to a sudden storm of magnetic particles filled the castle as the ray tore through the ceiling, vaporizing the stone above in a perfect circle. The large ray of rainbow colored light tore high up into the stratosphere, and created a burst of energy that wrapped Equestria temporarily in a band of white magic that crossed the entire globe before dissipating. The ponies in the burnt city below had seen the column erupt from the castle, and began to wonder what the significance of the extraordinary event might be.

Then, the beam receded, dissipating into nothing, leaving the four alicorns exhausted. As they stood up from completing the task, the mobile moved entirely on its own, each of the artifacts glowing as they retained their power. The Elements of Harmony were now active and beginning their work restoring Equestria, at the cost of the curse on the planet described in the book.

In addition to the grand spell they had just cast, each of the alicorns' manes had been highly affected by their first use of powerful magic. Celestia now had her multicolored hair, Luna's mane gained the stars of the night sky, Darkmatter's wisps of silver energy danced his brass colored mane, and Temporious's jagged mane ebbed and flowed to the pattern of a single second, like a clock. Their manes all flowed and animated, a sign of their maturity and power. With their own eyes, the four had seen the power of the magic created by the Elements, and believed that it was true that they would usher in a new era of hope for Equestria. Silently thanking their parents for the legacy left to them, the alicorns re-sealed the mobile within its container and retired for the night with joy in their hearts.

* * *

Chapter 14

Prince Darkmatter had retrieved Spike and PAL from the town before heading to his brother's castle in hopes of rescuing the team. The two had managed to gain quite a bit of support in town, proving to many of the residents that Equestria wanted them back, and was far more forgiving of a land than what had been told to them by their leader. They had left Wintergreen in charge of spreading the rest of the news, and joined Darkmatter in hopes of rescuing their friends from the castle. Once they had made it to the gate, Darkmatter spied two guards, one female earth pony, and one male pegasus, standing up on the battlements near the gate.

"Hello!" called Prince Darkmatter, "I'm looking for my brother, the Prince!"

The female guard answered sarcastically, "Oh, sure you are. The castle is closed off to the public."

"Look, he's an alicorn!" said Spike with frustration, "I know the Prince is also an alicorn, so he has to be his brother!"

"He could be any alicorn. Besides, the Prince's brother wouldn't look so weak." answered the male guard with a smug face, "He's no royal."

Prince Darkmatter rolled his eyes and shook his head, sending his brass mane back and forth, "We don't have time for this nonsense."

His horn glowed a furious black, and a large gravity well overtook the two guards, pinning them to the ground instantly and holding them down by the weight of their armor.

"Hey!" shouted the pegasus, "HELP!"

"Spike, PAL, get the gates open." ordered Darkmatter.

PAL picked Spike up off of his shoulder, and held the dragon in his hands up to the bars of the gate. Spike breathed a stream of green flames at two points on each of the bars, and the metal glowed yellow as it heated up. Then, after all of the bars were heated, PAL put Spike back on his shoulder, and physically pulled the heated bars apart with his robotic strength, putting his actuators into each movement of his arms. The bars easily parted, and the three of them passed through the hole, leaving the two guard trapped on the battlements until Darkmatter eventually let them go. Both of them ran inside to warn the others, and Spike got a worried look on his face.

"Not to worry." assured Darkmatter, "Brother will recognize me. You two need to find Twilight Sparkle and the others, and get them out of here!"

"Right!" answered Spike, "Ok, PAL, let's go find them!"

"Let's!" said the machine, smiling as he stomped his way into the main entrance of the castle.

Darkmatter spread his wings, and flew into an open window on a nearby tower. He landed inside the castle, and began to look around for his sibling, whom he hadn't seen in over one thousand years. The prince hoped that he could be reasoned with after so long, and would take the news of Celestia's remorse for her mistakes seriously.

* * *

Spike and PAL found themselves in an open area in the castle, the dominate characteristic being the brown rugs lining the floor. It seemed to be some kind of an atrium that led to various rooms in the structure, and a few lit candles on the wall provided light that the windows could not quite reach with the natural sun.

"This place gives me the creeps." whispered Spike into PAL's ear.

"Me too." the machine answered, "Perhaps it's because of the lighting though. We should move into a more well-lit area and begin our search for master and his friends."

"Let's try down that hallway over there!" suggested the dragon, pointing at a ray of light coming from down the dark hall.

They moved through the passageway, and entered the detention cell area, where they could hear the other ponies talking.

"Master!" shouted PAL, putting his hands to his robotic jaw, "Are you there?"

"PAL?" came the response, "Yeah, we're over here!"

The robot ran over the cell eagerly, nearly throwing Spike over his shoulder and onto the stone floor. The large jail cell was barred over with strong steel, making it impossible for PAL to get Spike to heat it up enough to bend, unlike the iron gate which had a lower melting point.

"Oh, thank goodness you two are ok!" Twilight said with relief, "We were worried about you."

"We should be the ones worried, you got locked up!" said Spike, with a worried tone, "We're gonna get you guys out though."

"Is that so?" said Slate, stepping forward from a nearby shadowy wall, crossbow hovering to eye level.

Granite stepped forward as well, "We don't know why you're here, golem, but we do know you're under arrest for trespassing. We saw you smash the gate out front."

"Actually, I am a robot." he said, ignoring their threats as his servos hummed while he turned to face them, "It's quite a common misconception though."

"Shut up!" yelled Slate, taking aim, "Now, put your pet dragon down, and come with us."

"I am not a pet!" complained Spike, getting rather tired of being called that.

"Did you lock up my master and his friends?" questioned PAL, pointing at the ponies behind bars, "If so, I'm going to need you to release them immediately. You're making a mistake following anyone's orders to lock them up. They are diplomats on a peaceful mission."

"Hey, the more ponies the Prince thinks are a threat, the closer we get to becoming high ranking officers, since we're always the ones to capture them." laughed Granite, "We're gonna be captains soon, seeing as we're replacing that stupid mare behind in the cell with your friends."

Comettail smiled weakly at PAL, whose orange electronic eyes met hers. The robot understood that the two ponies in front of him were complete traitors and opportunists, but was willing to give them a final chance.

"I must insist, sirs, that you release them." PAL said.

"What if we don't?" growled Slate.

PAL brought his hands together and pulled back on them. The sound of metal and motors crunching came forth as PAL cracked his robotic knuckles loudly, in hopes of intimidating the two.

Spike answered with a frown, "We're gonna kick your sorry butts, duh."

PAL sighed, "I was trying not to put it that way."

"Yeah, I've had just about enough of this crud." said Slate, "Let's get them."

The brothers unloaded their crossbows, and Fluttershy screamed as the two arrows smashed straight into the robot and the young dragon within a second. The arrow aimed at PAL bounced off of the thick armor on his front, and the other arrow stuck into Spike's scales. The young dragon wiggled the arrow out of his armored skin, and handed the projectile to PAL, who immediately snapped it in his metal fingers as if it were no more than a toothpick.

Slate and Granite gasped, and backed up as they tried to reload their crossbows. They fired again as the robot trudged forward across the carpet, but each bolt simply bounced off of the metal PAL was constructed out of, doing no damage whatsoever. The two guards panicked, continuing to fire their weapons, but PAL eventually caught up to them, and grabbed their crossbows.

"Here you go, Spike." he said, a broad smile on his face.

Spike breathed fire over the two wooden weapons, incinerating them. Ashes of the arrow launching devices scattered everywhere as the dragon burned them up. Slate and Granite looked at the two piles of ash on the ground with terror, but gained the courage in their hearts to draw a set of daggers from their sides in their teeth, and rushed the machine and his friend.

PAL simply looked at Spike, who smiled and laughed even as the two guards yelled and rushed them. The machine then looked back at the two stallions, and cracked his mechanical knuckles again before lunging at the guards. Dodging the slashes of the knives, PAL leaned down and sent his metal fists into the armor of the two ponies, crushing their chest plates and knocking them back. Spike ignited the carpet beneath them with a fireball, surrounding the two brothers in flames. They could no longer escape, their armor was ruined, and they had also dropped their knives from having the wind knocked out of them by PAL. The machine, with his strength, picked up the two average-sized guards, and held them up by their necks. Slate and Granite screamed in terror from the sight of the robot holding them by their necks in a ring of fire, and passed out. Spike dropped down from the robot's shoulders, and stomped out his own flames to make sure the green fires didn't spread.

"Oh my." said the robot, holding the two unconscious ponies.

"PAL!" yelped Spike, "Too far, bro!"

"They'll be ok." assured the machine, "I merely damaged their armor, and they passed out from fear and anxiety. We haven't harmed them at all."

"Wow!" said Rainbow Dash, impressed, "I can't believe you handled that without hurting those guys."

"That's my PAL!" said Techorse, smiling.

Spike found the set of keys on Granite's armor, and picked them up, "Hey, I found the keys. Let's get you out of there."

* * *

Prince Darkmatter found his brother's throne room, and opened the door casually with his hoof, entering the open room. He saw his sibling sitting on the throne, who looked up at him, and immediately recognized his family.

"Brother?" he called out softly.

Darkmatter answered with a beaming smile, "Yes! It is I, your younger brother! I haven't seen you in ages Sundial!"

"Darkmatter, you big fool, get over here!" said Sundial, laughing.

The two brothers embraced quickly before letting each other go.

"What brings you here, Darkmatter?" he asked eagerly.

"Why, brother, it's to discuss what's been going on in the outside world." he said, "Our sister Celestia is quite a different pony from how she was before, you see."

Prince Sundial's tune changed, and he angrily asked, "Do not tell me that you as well have gone soft on her! She deserves to be punished for what she did to our little Luna all those years ago."

"Oh dear, is this how I sounded?" Darkmatter asked of himself while looking at the floor, as he had been guilty of hating Celestia too.

"Brother, we made a pact not to ever make contact with her again unless it was to take action against her." Sundial growled, "Tell me you haven't really made peace with her."

"I'm sorry." answered the Prince honestly, "But sister has changed. Luna has returned, and she is happy now. They both get along well, and all has been forgiven. In addition, Celestia has always been very remorseful about her choice to banish her."

Sundial had heard those same words from Techorse and Twilight, but still adamantly refused to believe it, "Horse feathers! All of it! Celestia has brainwashed you as well!"

"Brother, listen to yourself!" urged the black stallion, "You have an outdated way of thinking, and need to listen to the truth. You can't simply keep your ponies sealed off from Equestria forever. I tried to do that, and it was very selfish of me!"

"I can, and I will." he answered, "Now leave! We made a deal, and I expect you to keep it."

Prince Darkmatter became angry, knowing differently from his brother, and yelled back, "Well then, I see how it is. You refuse to listen to even your own brother, who swore never to see Celestia again, and has changed his own ways? You even think I would be stupid enough to fall for a brainwashing?"

He then charged his horn up, glowing black with intent, and said, "If you won't listen to me, then I'm going to have to bring you down so you will have to listen!"

"Very well. I never thought it would come to this, brother, but perhaps it's for the best! I see the entire family has turned against me now." he yelled in response, his own horn charging white.

The guards in the room fled as the alicorns galloped towards one another. An alicorn duel was no place for a pony, especially when one of the alicorns knew how to control black holes! The two brothers clashed in the middle of the room, their horns crossed, energy arcing back and forth between them. Dust in the room was vaporized or pushed out of the way in a cyclone as they butted heads, and the throne in the center of the room shattered to pieces when a pulse of energy emitted from the brothers.

"I'm sorry..." said Sundial, grunting under the force of the magic, "That it has to be this way."

"The same." answered Darkmatter ominously.

And then, with a burst of magical energy exploding into a flash of destructive power, the battle between the brothers began. They shot back from each other, spreading their wings and bouncing along the walls of the stone spires, shooting beams of highly destructive magic from their horns. A black ray of energy carved its way through the stone wall near Sundial, who rolled to the left in mid air. Stone melted and fried as the beam finished, leaving a large, molten scar on the wall. In retaliation, Sundial shot a blistering hail of small white magical pellets, threatening to perforate the other Prince. Darkmatter summonsed a small wormhole, which eagerly devoured the magical pellets. With another burst from his horn, Darkmatter opened the other end of the wormhole above his brother, and the white pellets shot down, burning his brother and pockmarking his mane and coat.

Sundial recovered from having his attack redirected at him, and slowed time around the two of them. Darkmatter could see his brother moving quickly from his point of view, and had no idea what his brother was attempting. Suddenly, a sharp pain entered the back of his neck as a white beam of light entered it, and Darkmatter screamed as he crashed into the floor below.

"You're weak!" he laughed, "Time bends to me, letting me predict your moves!"

Darkmatter pulled himself from the neat crater he had left on the floor, and smirked. The dirt-eating grin tipped off his brother, still flapping his wings to hover above, that his younger sibling was about to do something powerful. He expended an untold amount of energy to cast a large black hole beneath him, making sure the event horizon stayed in the middle of the room. Loose stones from their fighting got sucked into the void, possibly vanishing forever under the sheer gravity. Darkmatter flew back up to his brother, and watched as the glass of the dome above shattered and was vacuumed up by the black hole.

"Impressive! Perhaps I was wrong!" shouted Sundial, "But how about this!"

His horn flashed as he cast a spell to freeze time, which would allow him to finish off his brother without much effort. He then charged up an explosive magic attack he had previously tried on Twilight, and let loose with a trio of large magic missiles. The explosive bolts of magic sailed towards Darkmatter. In response, the Prince elevated himself, and the bolts redirected as homing projectiles did to catch him. They then hit the invisible event horizon, and swirled down into the hole below.

"What?" gasped Sundial, "Impossible!"

"You've forgotten, brother!" laughed Darkmatter, "Time stops over a black hole! Your magic is powerless!"

"I can still defeat you without it!" he yelled, foaming at the mouth.

The two brothers charged each other, and every time they struck, a flash of light occurred, and they bounced upwards towards the top of the tower. Below, the black hole began to fall apart, mostly under the weight of its own gravity, but also because of the sheer amount of energy it was being forced to absorb. Should the black hole collapse without Darkmatter sealing it first, it would likely supernova, possibly destroying all of Hourglass. The fate of the country rested in the hooves of the dueling brothers.

* * *

Chapter 15

The winter chill had begun to set in as per usual during Equestria's cold months. The scorched town was under slow repair due to the fighting, despite the "sign" the townsponies had taken awe to of the giant ray that had emerged from their leaders' castle. In fact, the ponies of the land believed that all the royalty had left them since the king and queen had died. At the very least, they believed the alicorns had stopped caring about their problems, leading to revisionist history showing in the books that Equestria had lacked alicorns at its start. Snow had been falling for a month, nonstop, blanketing the city in a white sheet that froze the carts on the road and prevented much movement. It was only by the work of the ponies desperate to not get trapped that they managed to dig themselves out of the piling winter frost and make it to the outside world. Now with all in the same boat, pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony covered in ash and filled with hatred for each other, they still stubbornly refused to help one another despite the slowly dwindling supplies of useable firewood, clean water and food.

The Princesses and Princes had gone into their city on a daily basis since the activation of the Elements, going incognito by wearing thick black cloaks, which gave them a scary and mysterious appearance such that no pony dared to try and figure out who they were. The royalty were actually attempting to help their ponies whenever they could, dropping off stacks of firewood or a few blocks of hay where needed, if it meant keeping a subject from freezing or starving to death. The sun no longer shown through in the sky, a constant atmosphere of dim light and overcast skies choked the land due to the curse. The four alicorns went to a remote part of the town after doing their sweep of the day to give aid, and removed their hoods to look at each others faces again.

"It's no use." sighed Darkmatter, "Our subjects still have no interest in cooperating or learning harmony. Equestria will freeze in a matter of weeks, and our kind will become nomads."

"Please try to be positive." urged Celestia, "We musn't give in."

"Who knows what tomorrow may bring?" concurred Luna.

Temporios saw a trio of ponies approaching their area, and said, "We've got visitors. Let's hide!"

The four threw their coats back on, and ducked into a nearby abandoned tavern, which had been nearly burned to the ground from the fire. They identified the three ponies as wanderers in the town who were coming to use a small fire pit to warm up. Each of them had planned on burning a set of logs they were carrying on their back, a total of 3 sets of firewood between 3 citizens. One had come from her master's castle, another a low ranked officer in the pegasus army, and the last an earth pony who was secretary to the earth ponies' clan wardens. The three of them reached the fire pit, a stone circle clear of the snow, with a few soft oak logs laid down for seats. Each of them stared at each other blankly, exchanging nasty looks, before sitting down at the logs in a circle. The cords of wood fell to the ground with a soft thud in the snow, which had thankfully been thinner in that area of the town.

With hatred in their hearts, the three ponies sat around the empty fire pit. Each of them refused to burn their wood, because they knew as soon as they started a fire, the other two ponies would be able to warm themselves up as well. Selfishness and loathing caused the fire to remain unlit, and Princess Luna felt like crying as she could sense the cold beginning to harm the three ponies who lacked sufficient clothing for the cold weather.

Suddenly, the unicorn started to speak to her acquaintances, "These blasted windigoes I hear about, keeping this weather going. We'll all be ice this month if those monsters stirring the clouds don't leave."

The windigoes were mythological creatures that supposedly messed with the cold weather behind the pegasi's backs, in truth, the cold weather clouds remained because of the equally cold hearts of the ponies. Of course, it was far easier to blame a species a northern ice wyrm than admit that there was such social division in their land.

The earth pony sighed heavily, and shook her head at the situation. Her superior had demanded for her to continue to pretend the fire was everypony else's fault. But she still felt somewhat sorry for the others, after all, they were ponies as well.

After a few moments of observing their struggle, the peagsus removed her iron helmet and tossed it to the ground, saying, "I don't want to be ice... and you know something? Neither should either of you."

She gathered up her logs, and placed one of them in the center of the fire pit, fruitlessly trying to light it with a piece of flint and steel left in the middle for igniting fresh blazes. The unicorn and earth pony looked at each other, and then watched as the pegasus, too timid to really be a good soldier, struggled to strike the flint and steel hard enough to get sparks.

"Here." said the earth pony, rolling a log from her pile into the center ring, "We're going to need at least two to start a fire, plus tinder. We can use a few pieces of straw I've got in my saddlebags."

The unicorn pony watched the others, and then, with her magic, grabbed another log of birch and added it to the ring, on top of the two logs next to each other. The other two ponies looked up at her, and the unicorn pony smiled.

"Let's build ourselves a nice fire then." she said, "We'll set the logs up like this..."

Using magic, the unicorn arranged the three logs in the best order possible, and the earth pony added her straw underneath for the tinder. The pegasus then successfully managed to get a spark off with the starter, and soon, a small fire had begun beneath the three logs. Within just a few minutes, the pile was burning brightly, and the three began to warm themselves up, adding more fuel when they needed to.

Princess Celestia noticed that Princess Luna was writing something on a piece of parchment with a fancy feather quill.

"Writing this down?" she asked curiously.

"This must be remembered for all of time!" she answered, nodding.

Just that one instance of cooperation and kindness had launched a phenomenon. Passersby joined in on the small fire, bringing with them extra pieces of firewood, and spare food and drink to share. The community of ponies had come together for once, to try and forget the cold and the burning of their land. As the royals watched, pleased by what they had seen, the ponies of the city declared what they had started a holiday, and nopony worked no matter what his or her rank in society. The school was closed, the farms gates were shut, and the barracks had hung up their armor for the night. They were having such a good time, and many friends were made as happiness, laughter, and stories spread throughout the town. Equestria was so busy enjoying themselves, that they had failed to notice that their planet was turning again, and the darkness was being lifted. When night fell, however, they finally realized that the snow had stopped falling, and the winter had returned to its normal, more bearable cold.

* * *

When morning finally came, and the ponies woke up from their time spent reconciling their kind, they began to work hard at repairing the town and put together a granary to make food distribution easier. Each pony was valuable for their unique skills, and every last scorched home, business, and fort was getting a renovation. As they worked to fix their city, the alicorn's castle once again become more noticeable to the citizens, who had overlooked their leaders in their earlier struggle. The mobile had absorbed so much energy from their friendship and harmony, that a rainbow released from the artifact holder, projecting a beautiful scene in the now clear sky. The warmest winter was now here for the citizens to enjoy, and they had all gathered in the town square to admire the rainbow.

"The four alicorns must have done it!" cheered a pegasus pony, flapping her wings to hover above the crowd, "They've given us this beautiful rainbow!"

With a burst of bright light, blinding most of the crowd, Princess Celestia, flanked by her siblings, no longer needing to hide behind the dark cloaks, stood before their subjects, who all bowed at their presence.

"WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO STAND!" bellowed Luna, lacking an indoor voice.

The citizens obeyed, standing up and looking at the alicorns in awe.

"Citizens of Equestria!" said Princess Celestia triumphantly, "You have finally overcome the struggle between unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony. We did not give you the rainbow you see today, it was created by you through the Elements of Harmony. Your friendship and peace has brought Equestria into the light, and from this day forward, Equestria shall be known as the Land of Harmony!"

A great loud cheer spread throughout the citizens, as they welcomed in the new era they had created. The two brothers became the heads of the courts of Equestria, bringing justice and equality. The Princesses were seen as being responsible for the day and night cycle. All were seen as the saviors as Equestria, even though the Elements of Harmony they had discovered were powered by their subjects. It became a time of peace and prosperity, and as the economy skyrocketed and the food multiplied rapidly, construction began of a new town miles away. The city, built near a waterfall side cliff where the castle was planned, would be a representation of the new era of Harmony, a reminder of what friendship and peace can accomplish.

And they called it Canterlot...

* * *

Chapter 16

The massive explosions echoing throughout the castle had obviously drawn the attention of Twilight and her friends, along with Comettail, who had placed her head on one of the castle walls. Bricks occasionally fell from the ceiling, and dust resettled as the vibrations bounced off the walls.

"It's coming from the throne room!" she said, "We need to get there as fast as possible."

"Prince Darkmatter must be fighting with his brother!" exclaimed Twilight, "Maybe calling for him wasn't such a good idea."

"Too late for that. We need to get there and stop them." urged Comettail.

They ran into the throne room, and observed the massive black hole on the floor, keeping them away from the center of the throne room. The friends looked up, and saw the two alicorns fighting, blasting away at each other with beams. Without his time magic, Sundial couldn't cheat against his brother, but still managed to defend himself well. Eventually, the two alicorns stared at each other, having blown several holes in the walls of the castle without doing much damage to each other.

"There they are!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"Darkmatter!" called Techorse, who was looking at the black hole and observing its fluctuations, "Your black hole is about to go critical, you've got to seal it off!"

Prince Darkmatter looked down, and noticed the storms forming around the edges of the black hole. He knew that if he sealed it off, his brother would regain the upper hand in the fight by gaining back his time magic. But unless he sealed it off, the black hole would surely explode. Making up his mind, the alicorn shot down a thin beam of energy, and the black hole shut, disappearing in a flash of white light.

"Ha!" shouted Sundial, "You've given me an opening."

"What are we going to do?" wailed Rarity.

Prince Sundial's horn glowed, and he froze his brother in time, leaving him unable to move by his own will. He then charged up his horn to deal a blow with a beam attack. Twilight looked up at the two alicorns fighting, and knew what she needed to do. As soon as Sundial fired a beam at his brother, Twilight rushed forward, and a burst of fuchsia color exploded from her horn. A large bubble shield formed between the brothers, separating them and bouncing Sundial's energy away from Darkmatter. The purple colored orb of energy held against the alicorn's attack to his surprise, and also severed his connection to the space around Darkmatter, ending the time spell. Both alicorns were now locked away from each other, a solid wall of purple energy blocking them.

"That's enough!" shouted Twilight Sparkle, "You two are brothers! You shouldn't be fighting like this!"

Sundial noticed that Twilight had failed to create a complete bubble around both of them, leaving her open below. He then laughed in a sinister manner, and shot a large bolt of white energy down at her. Twilight gasped, losing control over her shield, and felt the giant blast of magic explode beneath her, much to the horror of her friends. The unicorn mare was sent flying, and hit the tile floor, rolling over many times. Twilight lay on the ground, her coat slightly singed in multiple places.

"Twilight!" screamed Techorse, running forward.

"Can't you see, inventor?" laughed Sundial, his eyes glowing a demonic red, "It was her time. Along with any who side with Celestia."

"Brother..." said Darkmatter slowly, looking at the burnt and knocked out Twilight, "How could you..."

"Now I'm going to do the same to the rest of you." he answered, "Nopony will know you ever came to Hourglass!"

* * *

The doors to the throne room opened with a loud blast, as a magical bolt tore it open. In rushed both Princesses, along with Captain Arbiter and Limpwing. Sundial saw Celestia, and flew down to land on the ground near Twilight, who was being held by Techorse. The Prince looked at the inventor, who promptly burst into tears while searching for his marefriend's pulse. Captain Arbiter drew his sword with his magical gauntlets in preparation to aid in combat against the Prince, but Celestia ordered him to put it back by raising her wing.

"Temporios!" shouted Celestia, "I'm here. There's no more need for violence."

"As am I!" declared Princess Luna.

"Luna!" said Sundial, no rage disappearing from his eyes, "So... it's true that you've returned?"

"Yes!" she answered, "I have been cleansed of my demon, as has Darkmatter. Perhaps it is your turn."

"I'm no monster!" he roared, "Your sister banished you, she is the monster!"

"She had no choice!" answered Princess Luna, "It was rash, but we've become family again! We want the same for you."

The Princess of the night then pointed at Twilight and her closest friends and family with a long hoof, "You've proven yourself to be a monster too. Just look at what you've done to Twilight Sparkle!"

Princess Cadance and Shining Armor entered the room. Although Cadance knew it was her dad immediately, the first thing she laid her eyes upon was the injured Twilight and Techorse. She approached her father, concern in her eyes over her friend's condition. Sundial said nothing, still surprised that his daughter had actually returned to him.

Sundial's eyes grew wide, "Cadance... you actually came back to see me?"

"Dad, I've wanted to see you for years." she answered, a miserable expression on her face, "But Dad... why did you do this to Twilight? She's my friend. Don't you still love me?"

"Even if I do... you don't love me anymore. You and your mother both left me." he said, trying not to sob.

"Only because you kept us here." she answered, frowning, "We wanted to see the outside world, but you kept going on and on about Princess Celestia being evil. We figured out for ourselves that this wasn't true, and we lived our lives out there, where we should have been, in Equestria."

She then said, "But dad, I hoped that someday I'd come back and you'd have changed. I've always wanted you to come back home."

"You... have?" he asked, hisheart strings being tugged, "But why?"

"Because." she answered, bursting into tears, "I still love you. You're still my father, and I've just wanted you back. Aunt Celestia told me you were a happier stallion before, and I wanted to see you happy."

"Despite everything... you still love me?" he said, slowly, "You didn't favor Celestia's company, you only wanted me to give her a chance?"

"Yes!" she answered, weeping, "I told Princess Celestia you were still alive, and she hoped every day that you'd come back around, just like your brother! She told me of all the times she had been up crying, not only because of Princess Luna being gone, but because she had lost her brothers as well!"

Sundial's heart broke open when he heard the same words Twilight Sparkle had told him earlier. The truth broke through his shell of emotions, and crushed him, leaving him with an epiphany.

"Twilight was telling the truth." said the alicorn of time slowly, "All along, my daughter has hoped for my return. My sweet Cadance."

His eyes stopped glowing, and the Prince's mane dropped from its pattern, everything about him cooling down.

"I've... been a complete monster." he said, "I've held on to my anger forever, and now, I've caused harm to another pony."

Sensing Princess Celestia's bag, and knowing what that particular sack was used for, he pointed at it and said, "I see you've brought the Elements of Harmony, Celestia."

Princess Celestia smiled, and shook her head, opening the bag to reveal nothing but a pile of bits she had brought from her personal vault.

"I put the Elements of Harmony back in the vault, and came without them," she said, "At first, I thought we would need to use them. But then, I remembered Cadance's love for you, and knew that she could help you."

"I suppose I would have deserved having them used on me as well." he admitted, "It would set things right, after the crimes I've committed. I've lied to my people, I've hurt Twilight Sparkle, and I've failed to give my sibling another chance."

Twilight Sparkle's ear twitched as she recovered from being blasted away by Sundial's magic. She slowly stood up on her legs, and Shining Armor aided Techorse in getting her up.

"Sundial." she said shakily, "I'm ok. It's not that bad."

Prince Sundial turned to face her, "I could have done so much worse though. I'm pleased you're alive, but this changes nothing."

"I forgive you anyways." she said weakly, "There's only one pony you owe an apology to, and that's Princess Celestia."

The Prince of time looked at his sister, who's facial expression sunk back into a much more neutral one.

He said to her while looking at the ground, "I'm never going to be able to make up for everything. If you forgive me, I do not deserve it."

Princess Celestia then looked at her sister, and back to him, before bursting into tears and answering, "None of that matters, Temporios, I just want my brother back!"

He then wept and answered, "Sundial. It was always Sundial!"

He ran up to her, and the four alicorns hugged, crying tears of joy over getting their brother back, and ending the thousand year old feud that had separated them all.

"It's wonderful." whispered Twilight, trying not to cry herself.

"Twilight Sparkle, you've brought our family back together again." said Princess Celestia, "Thank you!"

The four alicorns watched as the ponies in the room assembled before them, from Arbiter and Limpwing, to Spike and PAL, and all the friends of Twilight Sparkle.

"It's just what we do!" she answered, regaining her strength, "Right guys?"

Her friends gave her hugs and cheers, and the ponies took the time to celebrate what had happened that day.

* * *

Chapter 17

Thanks to Wintergreen's actions, the ponies of Hourglass were more than ready to explore Equestria, travel to which was unbanned by Sundial that day. He dispelled the winter storms he had cast to separate his city, merging the territories together. Hourglass was placed on the map as a fine city to visit, and the ponies traded information and goods within days.

A massive celebration planned by Pinkie Pie took place in Canterlot to celebrate the return of the four siblings, and the complete unison of Equestria. Although the brothers chose to stay as the rulers of their towns, they were welcome back to Canterlot at any time they wished, and two traditional thrones were built for them for when they visited.

Everyone was partying in the ballroom of the castle, having a good time and celebrating the momentous occasion. Which brought Sundial to ask an interesting question of Cadance, who to him, hung around Shining Armor a lot for an unknown reason.

"So who is this stallion?" he asked of his daughter.

"Well daddy, this is my husband, Shining Armor. Twilight's brother." she said, a bit embarrassed.

Prince Sundial looked at Shining Armor suspiciously, who smiled nervously. Meeting a parent was a always a bit of a challenge. But to his surprise, the Prince laughed, and scratched his blonde beard before giving him a huge hug.

"He's perfect for you!" he said in his Russian sounding accent, "It is a shame I missed your wedding day."

"Um... maybe you wouldn't have liked it very much." said Cadance, embarrassed, remembering what had happened, "Every day's been a great adventure for us though! I've even gotten in touch with mom. As a relationship counselor, maybe I could help you two."

"I would love to try." Sundial said, "But for now, let's enjoy the day."

He noticed that Pinkie Pie had been shooting off confetti with her party cannon, and she shouted, "Come on everypony! Let's form a line and dance!"

"Yes!" shouted Prince Sundial merrily, "Everypony do the conga!"

Starting the head of a conga line, the Prince managed to get over twenty ponies in the room, including a few nonponies such as PAL and Spike, to dance with him. The line of ponies proceeded around the room, enjoying the music. Prince Darkmatter grabbed the tail end of the line and joined the dance, who was surprised to see Comettail holding on to him. She blushed a bit, but the Prince simply shook his head and encouraged her to dance. Prince Sundial was having a wonderful time leading around the line with Pinkie Pie's help.

"Conga!" laughed the Prince, "Such a merry dance!"

"We've definitely gotten our brother back!" chuckled Princess Luna, watching the antics.

Techorse and Twilight approached the sisters.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" asked Princess Celestia, noting her concern.

"It's just that... Sundial told us that there was a curse on Equestria that freezes the planet if ponies don't get along." she said, "The Prince later told me that he hadn't told me the truth about Starswirl. He had made some mistakes, but truly loved Equestria in the end. But what about the curse?"

Princess Celestia smiled, "Twilight, Starswirl really did love Equestria, and there wasn't a moment we didn't miss him and hoped he'd come back."

"But what about that curse?"

"The curse wore off as soon as ponies started to get along. Now that it's been proven that all ponies can be friends, and that friendship truly is the most powerful form of magic, the curse has been lifted for over a thousand years."

"You mean that ponies get along by their own powers?" asked Techorse.

"Yes, we've all achieved this harmony, together." she answered.

"But then what about you raising the sun?" she asked.

"Some traditions are nice to keep around as a reminder of the past," she said, smiling, "even if we don't really control heavenly bodies, the majesty of it has helped ponies to feel safe knowing we will aid them when they are in trouble."

Techorse and Twilight looked at each other, and then at the brothers, who were enjoying themselves. They walked slowly away from the sisters, and then looked into each others eyes.

"You've done it Twilight." he said, "I'm so happy for you."

"I couldn't have done it without the support of my friends, or my coltfriend." she answered, love in her eyes, "Come here."

They kissed, drawing the attention of Pinkie Pie, who gave a loud whistle at them. Techorse and Twilight ignored them, finishing their kiss, to the applause of several present.

"Maybe we should have gone outside first." said Techorse, blushing.

"Yeah, probably." she answered, giggling as her ears drooped.

"Come on you two! Dance!" said Rainbow Dash, "You're missing all the fun."

"Better do what she says!" said Twilight, "Come on, let's dance!"

The two hitched onto the conga line, and enjoyed the fast, rhythmic dance, until suddenly, the door to the ballroom burst open. In the doorway stood Discord, wearing a pair of dark shades, and a white disco suit.

"What?" he said, taking off his glasses, and acting offended, "I heard a party going on from my home. You didn't throw such a... chaotic party and not invite me, did you?"

"Get in here!" said Pinkie Pie, "We're gonna start the ice sculpture contest soon!"

"Ooh, ice sculptures!" he replied, entering the room by sliding in on his tail, "Count me in!"

"You invited Discord?!" whispered Twilight to Pinkie Pie.

"Well yeah!" she said, "Probably best to let Sundial know Discord's cool too now!"

"Classic Pinkie Pie." sighed Applejack, who took a sip of her punch.

"That's for sure!" answered Fluttershy, smiling.

Wintergreen had joined in on the fun at this point, trying to aid in bringing in the ice blocks needed to get the sculpture contest set up. She smiled and waved a hoof at Techorse and Twilight, who were moving for the door. They left the room together after Discord had gotten settled into the room, and went to go watch the stars together, away from the party. They stood on the balcony Princess Luna traditionally stood on, and watched the night sky.

"What do you think the future of Equestria is going to be like?" asked Techorse.

Twilight answered his question with, "I'm not sure. Nopony knows the future for sure. All I know is, as long as there's friendships in this world, things can always be changed for the better."

"Family are also the best friends you can have." he added, "Speaking of which, there's something I wanted to talk about."

"What's that?" she asked.

Techorse thought for a moment, and then decided some things were best announced later, and answered, "It's just, I'm so happy to be here now with you."

"I'm happy you're here too." she said, nuzzling his nose with hers.

"You two ponies, really _really_ need a room!" catcalled Pinkie Pie, who stood at the doorway to the balcony.

"Pinkie Pie!" they both shouted together, and the pink mare disappeared with a giggle back inside.

"Well, we ought to go back in anyways." Twilight said, winking, "I wouldn't want to miss seeing Discord struggle to make an ice sculpture!"

"Now that sounds like fun!" answered Techorse, "I'm right with you Twilight."

The two ponies headed back inside to enjoy the rest of the party. From that day forward, the royal family would be united again, and Equestria's leaders would no longer fight or harbor bad feelings about each other. The land was finally whole, and the banishment of Princess Luna, after a thousand years, had finally come to an end and was forgiven. Just as the land of Equestria had become one piece again, so had the relationship between the four siblings.

The End.


End file.
